rl-> 


V^ 


MT 


LD 

1364 


3 


LP 


A 


tyucic^  ^0 


UC-NRLF 


B   **   Sas   q73 


'^S| 


'^U 


Ezra  Cornell 

Centennial   Number 


^ 


GIFT   OF 
Professor  Fritz 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


IdeaJ 
FbikfSiiltV'en 


The  drudgery  of  letter  writing 
is  changed  to  pleasure  by  the 

use  of  Waterman's 
Ideal  Fountain  Pea 

It  is  a  swift  and  faithful 
messenger  between  friends. 


FOR  SALE  BY  BEST  DEALERS 

L.  E.  Waterman  Company 

173  Broadway,  ^ew  York. 

Boston         San  Francisco        Chicago 
Montreal 


Important  to  Students. 

Urband  &  Urband 

T/fe   Tailors 
OF  5th  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 

Are  open  for  business  with 
a  new  and  complete  line 
of  the  most  choice  varieties 
in    Material    and     Styles. 

PRICES  BELOW  COiPtllllON 


I.  M.  Urband, 

Late  of  A.  Nelson  Co. 

J.  B.  Urband, 

Late  of  Everall  Bros. 

Aurora  St.,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 


Preshmsn  ! 


SEND  YOUR  WORK  TO 


The  Palace  Laundry 


323-325  Eddy  St. 


There's  where  the  old  students  send  theirs. 
F.  C.  BARNARD,  Propr. 


WHEATON  &  PERRY 
Fine   Tailoring 


107  North  Aurora  St. 


Ithaca,  N.  V. 


WHITE  &  BURDICK 

Caterers  to  Students'  Wants. 
Prescription  Druggists.        ii6  East  State  Street. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


m 


The  Uniyersitv  Art  Gallery 

THE   STANLEY   PHOTO   CO.,  Proprietors. 

Latest  styles  and  novelties  in  photographs  at  moderate 

prices.     Developing  and  finishing  for  amateurs. 

Photo  Engraving  in  all  branches. 

212-21:}.  East  State  Street,  Opposite  Ithaca  Hotel. 


Why  Fool 

WITH  AN  INKDROPPER? 


Why  soil  fingers  and  spoil  temper 
1^  filling  an  old  style  fountain  pen  ? 

Here  is  the  Bolles  **  Standard'* 

Self  Filling,  Self  Cleaning  Pen 

Costs  no  more  than  the  old  kind. 
Every  part  guaranteed  for  two  years. 
Simplest  fountain  pen  made — only  six  parts. 

Sold   and  Guaranteed  by 

Rothschild  Bros. 


155-157-159  F-ast  State  St. 

Department  Store, 


100  to  114  South  Tioga  Street. 
Ithaca,  N.  Y. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


5 


J.  G.  Pratt, '09  B.  J.  O'Rouke, '09 

H.  P.  Coffin,  '08 


Ithaca  Phone,  452  x. 


University 
Laundry 
Co. 


Representing  SHYNE'S  Geneva 
Laundry.  (Consolidation  of  U. 
L   Co.  and  Justin  &  Reed.) 

328  Huestis  Street. 

The   best    FREE    Mending 

— .     Service. 

The    Whitest    Linen. 

The  Finest  Domestic  Finish. 

Try  a  Good  Laundry. 


GENTLEMEN 

WHO  DRESS  FOR  STYLE 

NEATNESS,  AND  COMFORT 

WEAR  THE  IMPROVED 

BOSTON 

GARTER 

THE  RECOGNIZED  STANDARD 


The  Name  is 
stamped  on  every 
loop  — 


CUSHION 
BUTTON 

CLASP 


LIES  FLAT  TO  THE  LEG— NEVER 
SLIPS.  TEARS  NOR  UNFASTENS 

Sample  pair,  Silk  50c.,  Cotton  25c. 
Alailed  on  receipt  of  price. 

GEO.  FROST  CO.,  Makers 
Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


ALWAYS  EASY 


Greetings  toCornell 


Cotrell  &  Leonard 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

Official  maker*  of 

Caps  &  Gowns 

To  the  American  Uni 
ver.sities  and  Colleges 


Our  Ithaca  Agent 


Mr.  L.  C.   BEMENT. 


School  Books 

in  a  hurry  < 

And  at   New  York  prices,   singly  / 
or  by  the  dozen,  may  be  obtained 
second-hufid  or  n«f ,  by  any  boy  or 
girl  in  the  remotest  hamlet,  or  any  / 
teacher  or  official  anywhere,  and 

Delivery  prepaid     i 

Brand  new,  complete  alphabetical 
I  catalogue,/r^(r,of  school  books  of  a//  | 

publishers.,  if  you  mention  this  ad. 
HinDS  &  NOBLE  ^ 

'    31-33-3.5  W.  15th  St.,   New  York  City. 


All  the  Latest  Style  Photos 

AT  RIGHT  PRICES. 

Kodaks  and  Cameras 

For  Sail-.  Rent  or  Exchange.     Supplies.  Ama- 
teur Kitiishiiig  ru.shed    if  necessary 

Van  Buren,  Photographer 

Ne.\:t  to  I'ost  Office. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


To  the  Faculty  and  Students: 

Huy  your  goods  at  the  MOST  COMPLETE,  LARGEST 
and  CLEANEST  GROCERY  STORE  in  Ithaca.  By 
so  doing  you  will  help  those  who  help  to  keep  this  mag- 
azine in  existence. 

LARKIN  BlIOS.,  ^08  Eddy  St. 


THK  DREKA  CO. 

Fine  Stationery  and  Engraving, 

1121  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
College  Invitations  Reception  and  Wedding  Invitations 

Danne  Programs  \'isiting  Cards 

Fraternity  Menus  Fraternit}-  Stationery 

Engraving  for  Annuals  Exclusive  Novelties 


NO  AMATEUR. 

"  Want  a  job  on  the  mine,  eh  ?  Do  you  know  how  to  use  dy- 
namite? " 

"  Yes,  sare.  I  was  a  practical  anarchist  for  two  years,  until  ze 
cheap  German  competition  lose  me  ze  job.  I  have  blowm  up  much 
of  ze  nobility  of  Europe."  — Sydtiey  Btilleiin. 


Decorate  your  Rooms. 

Flags  of  all  the  leading  colleges  in  stock. 

Fraternity  Flags  made  to  order. 

Clarence  E.  Head, 

Custom  Shirts  and  College  Flags.  109  N.  Aurora  St. 


The  Cornell  Era  Adv^tiser 


For  the  Best  Food  in  the  City 

GO  TO 

THE  STUDENT  INN 

319  EDDY  STREET. 

The  only   first-class  A    LA    CARTE  Dining  Hall  in  the 
city  for  both  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN. 


Mrs.  McCready 


Mrs.  Pool. 


Of 


I. 


That's  what  we  are  showing 

-IN- 


H I 


For  Fall. 

See    onr   window   display 
and  then  buy  a  pair  at 


S 


TAIN^LEY'S 

HOE 

TOR.E. 


OOLDENBERG 

THE 
Unwersity   Tailor. 

Come  in  and  look  over  our  new 

stock    of  Suitings,  Trousers, 

Fancy  Vests,  Overcoats, 

and  Rain  Coats. 

Prices  below  competition. 
Workmanship  and  fit  Guaranteed. 

GOLDENBERG   BLOCK. 
Eddy  Street. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser. 


the  sxhnoard 
Enorjiving  Co 

M.C.CLARn.E:      Pf^EsiDENT  INCORPORATED  ARTHUR  C.COLAHAN     Treas 

«JOHN  E.RODCERS    Manager  JOSEPH  S.  CoOK   SECRETAfir 

^Tnr  PHILfilDELPHUI  "^"ivr 


for  the  execution  of  rush  orders  and   the  convenience  of   Advertisers  and 
Newspapers.     Attention  is  especially  j<iven  to  the  making  of  the 

HIGHEST  GRADE  OF  COPPER  HALFTONES 

AND    WHILE 

Collegfe  and  School  Work  are  Specialties, 

we  furnish  Plates  in  all  styles  for  the  adornment  of  Catalogues,   Circulars, 
Booklets  and  all  Artistic  Publications. 

The  Standard  Engraving  Co.,  Inc.         Philadelphia,  Pa. 


The  Corn  ell  Era  Advertiser 


TYPEWRITERS 


NEW 


AND 


Second  Hand 


Fully   Guaranteed. 


Don't     fail     to    mention     tiie     ERA 
and    get  our 

Special  Rates  to  Students 

—  on  — 

Re-built  and  Slightly  Used  Machines. 


RIBBONS  AND  CARBON  PAPER, 


Standard  Typewriter  Exchange, 

1022  Arch  St.,       PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


lO 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser. 


BOND  COMPANY 

Designers  and  makers  of 

Menus,  Programmes,  Place  Cards 

Monogram   Stationery 

College  and  Fraternity  Seals 

Engraved  Visiting  Cards  and   Invitations 

Book  Labels 

Social  and   Business  Stationery  of  every  description. 

Hand  Painted  Things 

t^^  fi^*  c^^  9^^ 

Inquiries  and  Orders  by  Mail 

WILL  RECEIVE  PROMPT  AND  CAREFUL  ATTENTION 

^^^  fi^*  t^^  t^^ 

Suggestions,  Sketches  and  Estimates  submitted 

^p^  ^3^  ^5^  t^^ 

1516  Chestnut  Street  PHILADELPHIA 


C.  B.  B  R  O  1^  IS  , 

MFG.  JEWELER. 

FINE  DIE  WORK, 
LOVING  CUPS. 

And  Repair  Work 
A  Specialty. 


PATRONIZE 

The 
Hill  Candy  Store 

On  Eddy  Street. 

J.  N.  CHACONA,  Prop. 


Chas.  S.  Seaman  Livery, 
W.  H.  Bryan,  Prop., 

114-116  W.  State  St. 


Hack  and  Livery 
Stables. 


Particular  attention  to 

Theatre,  Party  and 
Wedding  Orders. 


Prompt  and  Efficient  Service.  First- 
class  Four-in-hand  Rigs  with  compe- 
tent and  careful  drivers. 

Both  Phones  87. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser. 


II 


FOUNTAIN 

PENf 


FOR  SALE  BY  ALL  DEALERS  We  can  furnish  you  Parker  Lucky  Curve 
fountain  penswith  any  fraternity  emblem  and  monogram  on  plain  solid 
silver  or  gold  bands,         ,  BURROWS  &  O'DANIELS. 


Have  you  called    on  W.  H.  SISSON 
for  your  fall  suit  ? 

If  not,  why  not  ? 

We  have  a  full  line  of  fall  and  winter 
suitings.  .:.  .:.  .:  .:.  .:. 

1 56    East    State  Street. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


FELLOW,  stop   at 


The  Senate 

The  only  first-class  European  Hotel  in  the  city. 


Pliotographer, 

We  make  and  sell  all  Athletic  Groups.  Also  Photo  Supplies. 
Give  us  a  call.  126  and  128  E.  State  Street. 

Scheltz,  the   Tailor, 

Maker  of  Fashionable  Clothes.         Aurora  slfeet 

Moore  s  Non-Leakable  Fountain  Pen 


Is  warranted  NOT  TO  LEAK  when  carried  in  any  position  in 
the  pocket.     UNLIKE  ALL  OTHERS. 

While  it  is  true  that  a  good  fountain  pen  will  not  leak  if  properly  cared  for,  it  is  also  true  that 
it  is  not  always  possible  for  the  most  careful  to  treat  as  they  ought,  while  the  careless  are  in 
continual  trouble.  These  leaking  troubles  are  all  obviated  in  MOORE'S  NON-LEAKABLE 
FOUNTAIN  PEN. 

AMERICAN  FOUNTAIN  PEN   CO. 

Adams,  Gushing  &  Foster,  Selling  Agents,  Boston,  Mass. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser. 


13 


L.   J.  CARPENTER'S  TAILOR  SHOP. 

Successor  to  W.  F.  FLI^TCHI-iR. 

VP=TO=DATE  PRESSING  CONTRACTS. 

Cleaning,  Dyeing,  Repairing,  New  Linings,  Etc. 


Suits  to  your  measure  $17.00  up. 

205  ]K.  Aurora  St. 


Bell  Phone  567.  Ithaca  Phone  420  x 

I..  J.  CARPENTER,  Mgr. 


FRESHMEN! 


LEARN  THE  WAY  TO 


The  Specialists  in 


Picture   Framing,  Furniture   Making, 

and  General  Furnishings   for 

Student   Domiciles. 

H.  J.  BOOL  CO., 

Opposite  Tompkins  County  Bank. 


LOCAL 


Those  who    know 
hat  comfort  know 

REED'S  HATS. 
1 49  E.  State  St. 


^Nl  D  -D  xl  ^   3    B"    ANCE. 

Ithaca  Telephone  Co. 


14 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


C,  H.  HOWES. 

The    Students    Photographer 

140  East  State  Street. 


^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 
^ 


NORTON  PRINTING  COMPANY 


^ 

4 
4 
^ 

4 


College,  Fraternity  and  Commercial  Printing. 
EiiS:ravecl  Calling  Cards. 

C'AI.T.   FOR    A    CORNEI.I.  BLOTTER. 


3^^7     East  State    Street, 


Ithaca,    rsj.  Y. 


NOTICE. 


Art  Embroidery 

We  have  a  large  variety  of 

College  and  Fraternity  Pillows 
and  Banners. 

Order  Work  a  Specialty 
Athletic   insignia  marking  and 
stamping,  etc. 

Mrs.  J.  C.  Elmendorf, 

307  E.  State  Street. 


The 

VERDICT 

Is 


That  J.  C.  DURFEY 
does  the  best  cleaning 
and  pressing  in  Ithaca 


If  you  doubt  it  give  us  a  short  trial. 
409  W.  State  .St.         Both  Phones. 


The  Cotncll  Era  Advertiser 


15 


HAXXERS. 

We  are  Hatters  as  well  as  Furnishers  to  ]Ueii.  .Sole  A^t.  for 
Knox,  Vounian,  Stetson,  Crofut,  Knapp  and  Roelofs. 

Derbies,  Soft,  Silk,  and  Opera.      Complete  line  of  FURNISHING  GOODS. 

Down  Town,  L.    C.  BE  ME  NT,  On  the  Hill, 

1 38  E.  State  Street        "The  Toggery   Shops.  404  R>ldv  Street. 


Why  not  try  the  Best  One  ? 


li  lilff. 


John   Reamer,  Prop. 


Red  Cross  Pliarmacy 

F.  T.  DUDLEY,  Prop. 

214  E  Stale  Street,       Itha<  a,  N.  Y. 
Students'  Supply  House  for  Toilet 
Articles  and  Drugs  and  Med- 
icines when    in    need. 


CHARLES  P.  BEAMAN,  M.D. 

Physician  and  Surgeon. 

office,  224    East   State   Street,  corner  opposite 
Itiiaca  Hotel.     Residetice,  506  East  Seneea 
street. 
Office  hollr^ — 9  to  10  a  m.;  2  to  4  and  7  tc  S  p.m. 
Ithaca  and  Bell  I      Residence  70  and  184. 
Telephones.     |      Office, 184-a  and  184-b. 
Physician  to  Cornell  Football  Team. 


This  is  to  remind  yoti 
that  at  the  store  of 


1 1  He  I  Bio.  Coii 


136  East 
State  St. 


You  can  get  the  best  of  everj'thing  in  the  Jewelry  line  at  reasonable 
prices,  if  your  Watch  or  Jewelry  is  otit  of  order,  bring  it  to  us,  we 
have  the  right  kind  of  w^orkmen. 

will  also  advance  money  on  watches  and  diamonds  at  low  rates. 


DR.  A.  M.  MacGACHEN, 

Dentist. 

21 S  Ea-t  State  Street. 

Opposite  Ithaca  Hotel.  Btll  Phone 

Hours — 9  A.  M.  to  5  p.  M. 


W.  C.  DOUGLASS,  M.D. 

Physician  and  Surgeon. 


Both  Phones. 


409  Eddy  Street. 


BROKKR. 

Established  1892. 

LOANS  ON  VALUABLES. 

Fire  and  Burglar  Vault. 

C.  A.  SAG£. 

Savings  Bank  Building.     Ithaca,  N.  Y. 


For   good    SHOE   REPAIRING 


GO  TO 


GARE  LONE, 

Heustis  Street,         Near  Sheldon  Court. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

EZRA  CORNELL  CENTENNIAL  NUMBER. 

I'AGE 

*  Founders  of  Universities President  J.  G.  Schurman  351 

_  My  Father Mary  E.  Cornell  353 

Ezra  Cornell  (Poem) J.  L.  H.  355 

The  p:arly  Life  of  Ezra  Cornell W.  B.  Cornell,  '07  356 

Ezra  Cornell  and  the  Magnetic  Telegraph 359 

The   Life  of   Ivzra  Cornell,  1841-1865 Charles  E.  Cornell  362 

The  Proposal  for  a   University Andrew  D.  White  369 

The  Incorporation  of  Cornell  University--Hon.  Henry  B.  Lord  370 

From  an  Act  I{stablishing  Cornell  University 373 

Address  of  P>,ra  Cornell  at  the  Opening  of  the  University 376 

Men  and  Women  of  the  Early  Days  of  the  University 

Professor  J.  M.  Hart  379 

The  Ten  Lecturers Professor  Goldwin  Smith  384 

Goldwin  Smith  on  Ezra  Cornell 387 

The  First  Founder's  Day Samuel  D.  Halliday,  '70  389 

Ezra  Cornell's  Letter  to  the  Era 391 

Ezra  Cornell  and  Sibley  College Professor  G.  S.  Moler,  '75  391 

Ezra  Cornell  as  the  First  Students  Knew  Him 

A.  J.  Lamoureux,  '74  392 
The  Management  of  the  Land  Grant — Mr.  Cornell's  vServices-- 

Professor  W.  T.  Hewett  396 

The  Time  of  Trial Late  President  Charles  Kendall  Adams  399 

The  Character  of  Ezra  Cornell — President  White's  Estimate 401 

Ezra  Cornell's  Estimate  of  Attacks  Made  Upon  Him 404 

Ezra  Cornell Rufus  P.  Stebbins,  D.D.  404 

Founder's  Hymn Judge  Francis  Miles  Finch  406 

Judge  Finch's  Reminiscences  of  Ezra  Cornell 408 

Anecdotes  of  Ezra  Cornell Mrs.  A.  B.  Cornell  412 

Reminiscences  of  P>,ra  Cornell Professor  B.  G.  Wilder  414 

Ezra  Cornell Professor  C.   M.  Tjder  420 

Reminiscences  of  Ezra  Cornell Isaac  P.  Roberts  421 

The  Public  Services  of  Ezra  Cornell Professor  James  Law  423 

Ezra  Cornell's  Debt  to  His  Son 426 

Ezra  Cornell  as  a  Citizen  of  Ithaca Horace  Mack  427 

The  Courtship  of  P:zra  Cornell Otis  E.  Wood  429 

Ezra  Cornell  :   Extracts  from  Centennial  Da>    Address 

Andrew  Carnegie  431 

The  Memory  of  I{zra  Cornell Dean  T.  ¥.  Crane  438 

Editorial 439 


Cs.'^K    Jl\ 


L. 


VVJ 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Ezra  Cornell  :   His  Best  Photograph  * Frontispiece 

Old  Quaker  Church,  near  New  Britain,  N.  Y.* 356 

The  First  Telegraph  Instrument  =•- 359 

The  "Nook"* 362 

Four  Generations  of  the  Cornell  Family,*  (Full  Page) 366 

Mrs.  Ezra  Cornell 368 

The  First  Breaking  Ground  for  Cornell  University 374 

Cornell  University  in  1868,  (Full  Page) 375 

Chair   Occupied    by    Ezra    Cornell    at    the    Opening    of    the 

University* 376 

Professor  J.  M.  Hart 379 

The  Founder  and  the  Original  Facultj^,  (Full  Page) 382 

Professor  Goldwin  Smith 384 

Cascadilla  Place  * 389 

"South  University,"  now  Morrill  Hall* 392 

Cornell  University  in  1872,  (Full  Page) 395 

Professor  W.  T.  Hewett 396 

Andrew  Dickson  White,  (Full  Page) 400 

Ezra  Cornell  :  His  East  Photograph*  (Full  Page) 405 

Judge  Francis  Miles  Finch 408 

The  Old  Cornell  Mansion* 412 

Professor  B.  G.  Wilder 414 

Cornell  University  in  1870* 419 

Professor  James  Law 423 

Andrew  Carnegie,  (Full  Page) 430 

Ezra  Cornell* 438 

*The  plates  for  ihese  illustrations,  made  for  this  magazine  from  rare  and 
unpublished  photographs,  have  been  deposited  in  the  University  Library.  Plates 
for  illustrations  taken  from  the  Twenty-Five  Year  Book,  1893,  (6901  G  22)  are 
also  in  the  custody  of  the  Library.  For  other  illustrations  we  are  indebted  to  the 
Cornell  Daily  Sun,  the  Cornell  Atbletic  Association,  the  Ithaca  Daily  News,  and 
to  the  Carnegie  Technical  vSchools  and  Murdoch,  Kerr  and  Company,  Pittsburg. 


M  6614 


i8 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


"  \Vc  treat  your  Linen  white." 


STVDENT  LAVNDRY  AGENCY 

A.   D.  ALCOTT,   07  I^.  M.   UeBARD.  'O? 

AGENTS  FOR  HASTINGS'  LAUNDRY 

420  Eddy  Street  Phones:  Bell  676.  Ithaca  73 

SUPERIOR  QUALITY  WORK 

Goto  BERNSTEIN, 

Cornell  Tailor  and  Haberdasher,  143  E.  State  St., 

For  First  Class  Tailoring  and  Men's  Toggery 

Specialties  :  Dress  Suits  and  Tuxedos. 


THE  SOLUXIOIV. 

Do  you  want  lietter  clothes  than  3-011  have  ever  had  ? 

Try  the  Modern  Clothing  Store  ! 
Are  you  weary  of  the  waste  of  time  and  the  uncertainty  of  get- 
ting fitted  in  made  to  order  clothes  ? 

Try  the  Modern  Clothing  Store  ! 
Do  you  want  the  best  clothes  and  furnishings  for  the  money  ? 

Try  the  Modern  Clothing  Store  ! 

BARINEY   SEAMON. 


ESTABLISHED   1816 
BROADWAY  COR.TWENTY-SECOND  ST, 

NtW    YORK. 

We  he?  to  c  ill  \>  irticuKir  alteiilion  to  our 
Spring  and  Suinnier  stock  of  : 

Suits  and  Overcoats 

ready-made  or  to  measure  ; 
English  Hats,  English  Fur- 
nishings, Riding  and  Hunt- 
ing Clothes,  Motor  Garments, 
Leather  Goods,  etc.,  .".  .'. 
desi%ned  especially  for  college  moi. 


Catalogue   with   illustrations   and    measure' 
tnent  form  mailed  on    request. 


Anything 

in  the  line  of 

Fine  Printing 

can  be  procured  at  our  shop. 
We  also  do 

Photo  Engraving. 

This  department  is  complete, 
and  capable  of  turning  out  work 
upon  .short  notice. 

Give  us  a  call. 

Ithaca  Publishing  Co. 

Opp.  City  Hall.  Iihaca,  N.  Y. 


FOUNDERS  OF  UNIVERSITIES 

HN'  rKi;sii)i;N'r  jacoh  c'tOI'i.!)  sciirkMAN 

^  I  'HE  man  who  founds  a  university  or  the  man  who  founds  a  college  or  a  de- 
■*•  partment  in  a  university  erects  an  imperishable  monument.  Hundreds  of 
years  have  passed  since  the  establishment  of  the  colleges  at  Oxford,  but  they  per- 
petuate to  the  latest  generation  the  memory  of  the  wise  and  generous  men  whose 
endowments  called  them  into  existence,  and  every  additional  professorship,  or 
residential  hall,  or  library,  or  fellowship  or  scholarship  has  added  a  new  name  to 
the  roll  of  worthies  whom  England  keeps  in  fresh  and  grateful  remembrance.  No 
other  investments  have  proved  so  safe  and  lasting.  And  though  our  own  Repub- 
lic is  little  more  than  a  century  old,  it  exhibits  the  same  attitude  of  mind  and  heart 
— the  same  pious  and  reverent  gratitude — to  the  founders  and  benefactors  of  its 
colleges  and  universities.  Happily,  too,  these  institutions  themselves  have  shown 
the  same  prudent  and  careful  management  of  their  endowments. 

It  IS  just  and  proper  that  the  founder  or  helper  or  friend  of  a  college  or 
university  should  be  held  in  grateful  and  pious  memory.  For  he  has  established  or 
strengthened  an  institution  dedicated  to  truth  and  knowledge,  to  learning  and  re- 
search, to  art  and  culture,  ends  which  along  with  virtue  and  piety  are  the  highest 
that  the  human  mind  can  conceive,  ends  that  the  human  mind  must  always  keep 
before  itself  as  the  goal  of  its  noblest  civilization.  The  greatness  and  the  dignity 
of  the  cause  ennoble  and  immortalize  the  generous  man  who  served  it.  It  is  per- 
haps an  infirmity  of  human  nature  that  teachers  who  give  their  lives  to  the  cause 
are,  except  m  rare  instances,  soon  forgotten  ;  the  fact  is  there  is  no  sensible  object 
to  recall  them  after  the  generation  of  their  pupils  has  passed  away.  But  mem- 
ory, which  waits  on  objects  of  sense,  never  loses  contact  with  founders  and  bene- 
factors; for  the  buildings  they  erected,  the  chairs  they  endowed,  the  funds  they 
conveyed,  are  a  constant  tangible  and  visible  reminder  of  the  part  they  took  in  the 
establishment  or  development  of  the  institution  which  to  the  annual  graduating 
class  is  personified  for  all  the  years  to  come  as  Alma  Mater.  And  to  share  with 
Alma  Mater  the  unalloyed  affection,  the  genuine  gratitude,  the  enthusiastic  devo- 
tion of  successive  generations  of  undergraduates,  old  students,  and  alumni  is,  whether 
in  experience  or  in  anticipation,  the  highest  bliss  which  mortal  philanthropist  can 
ever  know.  This,  however,  is  the  portion  of  the  founders  and  benefactors  of 
our  colleges  and  universities. 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Ir^^^''  mi                     ^P^^^^^^^^^l 

■ 

^^^^y^^^«^|^^B^K^^^ji^si^^H^^^^| 

^H 

H 

H      gjjki.  'CL.  1 

^1 

^^^^^B.                           ^  ^^^^H^Hflfe^BCiA' ^ '^hUKZ^^I 

^^^1 

^^H 

h^^rmHI 

jj^H 

^^1 

^H 

^^^^^^^^  ^H 

^K^J^^I 

/56  Y?!C^u^l^At<^^ — ^y 

Jr^  cot.  J:^- 


Vol.  39 


MAY,  1907 


No.  8 


MY   FATHER, 


BY    MARY    E.    CORNELL. 

SITTING  in  my  steamer  chair  on  the  deck  of  an  outward 
bound  steamer  one  summer  morning,  feeling  rather  forlorn 
because  I  was  fast  leaving  behind  my  home  and  friends,  I  was 
somewhat  startled  and  very  much  interested  by  hearing  a  young 
man  standing  directly  before  me  say  to  his  companion  : — "  Ezra 
Cornell  made  my  father.  He  was  one  of  the  noblest  hearted  men 
who  ever  lived." 

I  waited  with  some  impatience  for  another  sight  of  the  stranger 
who  so  honored  my  father  ;  and  my  astonishment  was  great  when, 
presently,  he  returned  with  a  book  and  seated  himself  in  the  chair 
next  my  own.  I  could  not  refrain  from  telling  him  of  the 
conversation  I  had  overheard,  and  how  it  cheered  me  to  hear  such 
words  spoken  of  my  father  ;  and  then  he  told  me  how,  as  a  young 
boy,  his  father  had  gone  to  Ezra  Cornell  for  work,  and  the  many 
kindnesses  shown  him  by  the  great-hearted  man  who  never  turned 


Note  on  frontispiece,  Ezra  CornkIvI..  This  picture  was  regarded  by  Mr.  Cornell 
and  his  family  as  his  best  photograph.  It  was  taken  about  1868  or  1869,  soon  after 
the  University  opened.  The  original  is  in  possession  of  Mrs.  C.  H  Blair,  his 
daughter.  The  autograph  is  reproduced  from  the  book  containing  the  proceedings 
at  the  dedication  of  the  Cornell  Library,  (Ithaca,  1866),  loaned  by  Mrs.  Alonzo  B. 
Cornell. 


354  Tffi'^  CORNELL  ERA 

a  deaf  ear  to  anyone  wlio  desired  to  get  on  in  the  world  by  honest 
labor, — how  he  had  started  him  in  the  telegraph  lousiness,  which 
had  been  the  means  of  making  his  fntnre. 

Most  people  thouglit  him  very  stern.  He  had  no  patience  with 
meanness  or  dishonesty  of  any  kind,  bnt  he  had  a  qniet  luimor 
which  was  ever  ready  to  appreciate  a  joke.  I  remember  the 
embarrassment  of  some  stndents  who  came  to  him  in  the  early 
days  of  the  University  to  ask  if  they  might  have  a  few  apples 
from  the  University  orchard.  He  threw  them  into  great  confnsion 
by  looking  at  them  very  sternly,  and  asking  them  how  many  they 
had  already  had.  They  owned  np  to  "a  bushel  or  two";  and 
then,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  he  told  them  to  help  themselves, — 
that  he  thought  perhaps  they  were  entitled  to  the  "few  more" 
they  asked  for  as  a  reward  for  their  honesty. 

The  University  was  his  delight.  In  those  early  days  he  was  a 
ver.y  familiar  fig^ure  as  he  drove  from  one  end  of  the  Campus  to 
tlie'Dther, 'havin«;' an  eye  upon  every  smallest  detail  of  the  work 
qf'.  hfitiidirjg'rjnd  grading  and  bringing  things  into  shape.  There 
were  few  stuclent's  in 'those  days,  and  he  took  a  personal  interest 
in  each  one  of  them.  I  have  heard  the  wife  of  one  of  the 
professors  who  came  from  abroad  to  help  build  up  the  new 
University  tell  how  he  used  to  cheer  up  her  homesick  heart,  as 
he  met  her  on  the  Campus,  bv  stopping  and  giving  her  a  word  of 
friendly  encouragement. 

All  children  loved  him.  They  instinctively  knew  that  he  was 
their  friend. 

There  was  never  a  philanthropic  work  started  that  he  was  not 
ready  to  helj)  it  on. 

During  the  Civil  War  he  took  a  personal  interest  in  the  family 
of  every  soldier  who  went  to  the  front  from  his  own  town.  No 
one  will  ever  know  how  many  women  and  children  were  looked 
after  and  cared  for  by  him  while  the  husband  and  father  was 
fighting  for  his  country,  nor  how  many  widows  and  orphans 
received  not  only  material  aid,  but  the  loving  sympathy  which 
meant  so  much  to  those  in  sorrow. 

He  passionately  longed  to  make  it  easier  for  poor  boys  to  get 
an  education  than  it  had  been  for  him.  It  was  one  of  the  real 
sorrows  of  his  life  that  he  had  been  unable  to  go  to  college. 

He  had  a  deeply  religious  nature,  though  he  rarely  talked  of 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  355 

spiritual  things.  He  was  a  "birthright"  Quaker;  but  when  he 
married  a  "  world's  woman  "  the  society  to  which  he  belonged 
sent  one  of  their  members  from  De  Ruyter  to  tell  him  that  he  had 
been  turned  out  of  the  society  for  "marrying  out",  but  that  he 
would  be  reinstated  if  he  would  say  that  he  was  sorry.  I  have 
often  heard  him  tell  how  indignant  he  was  that  they  should  for  a 
moment  think  he  would  say  he  was  sorry  "for  the  best  deed  he 
ever  did." 

I  remember  hearing  my  mother  tell  how.  many  years  later,  she 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  old  man  who  had  walked  forty 
miles  in  the  winter  snow  to  "turn  him  out  of  meeting",  and  how 
she  had  asked  him  if  he  was  not  sorry  for  having  done  it, 
laughingly  telling  him  that,  had  he  not  done  so,  she  might  have 
been  a  good  Quaker  long  before  ;  and  his  quick  reply  : — "  I  fear 
thee  would  have  made  a  very  fresh-water  Quaker." 

At  heart  he  always  clung  to  the  religion  of  his  forefathers  ;  but 
the  good  in  all  forms  of  religion  appealed  to  him,  and  his  own 
religion  was  lived,  not  spoken.  He  truly  loved  his  neighbor  as 
himself,  and  did  to  all  men  as  he  would  that  they  should  do  unto 
him. 

EZRA  CORNELL. 

The  measure  of  a  century  away, 

'Mid  kindly  Quaker  folk, 
To  act  his  portion  in  the  world's  great  play, 

A  soul  awoke. 
He  trod  the  boards  th'  allotted  span  of  life, 

Then  passed  beyond  our  ken. 
He  took  his  part  amid  the  toil  and  strife. 

But  strove  that  men. 
All  men,  might  profit.    (The  great  purpose  scan!) 

The  angel  who  records 
"  Wrote  him  as  one  who  loved  his  fellow  man," — 

In  deeds,  not  words. 
And  when  his  last  act  in  the  drama  came. 

And  the  dark  curtain  fell, 
He  left  to  us  the  fruitage  of  his  fame  ; 
♦  He  left  to  us  the  high  reach  of  his  aim  ; 

He  left  to  us  his  greatly  honored  name — 

Beloved  Cornell.  J.  L.  H. 


356 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


% 

HI 

an^ 

Oi,D  Quaker  Church,  near  New  Britain,  Columbia  County,  N  Y.,  in  which 
Ezra  Cornell's  father  and  mother  were  married  in  1S05.  From  a  photograph  in 
possession  of  Mrs.  Alonzo  B.  Cornell,  Ithaca. 


THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  EZRA  CORNELL. 


BY    WILLIAM    BOUCK    CORNELL,    '07. 

ONE  hundred  years  ago,  on  the  eleventh  day  of  January  1807, 
Kzra  Cornel],  the  founder  of  Cornell  University,  was  born  at 
Westchester  Landing,  Westchester  Co.,  N.  Y.  His  ancestors 
were  of  Puritan  origin  and  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
or  Quakers,  with  whom  sobriety,  integrity,  industry  and  frugality 
were  dominant  characteristics.  Ezra  was  the  eldest  of  eleven 
children,  and  as  such  learned  the  discipline  of  industry  and  self- 
denial  taught  where  meager  income  struggles  to  maintain  a  large 
and  dependent  family. 

The  Cornells  lived  in  Westchester  until  1819,  when  they 
removed  to  a  farm  which  the  father,  Elijah  Cornell,  had  purchased 
at  Crum  Hill,  three  miles  east  of  DeRuyter,  in  Madison  County. 
Here,  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  Ezra  at  once  became,  by  his 
zealous  labor,  one  of  the  main  supports  of  the  family.     He  was 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  357 

never  idle  as  boy  or  man,  and  while  fond  of  ordinary  sports  of 
yonth  and  a  leader  in  all  he  entered,  his  ingenions  and  practical 
mind  led  him,  even  in  boyhood,  to  constant  endeavor  in  useful 
directions. 

He  was  an  eager  student  and  availed  himself  of  every  oppor- 
tunity for  learning  within  his  reach  ;  his  father  being  a  man  of 
superior  education  for  his  time,  assisted  Ezra  very  materially  in 
the  early  struggle  for  knowledge.  So  great  a  luxury  was  school- 
ing in  those  days  that,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  aided  only  by  his 
brother,  one  year  younger,  Ezra  chopped  and  cleared  four  acres 
of  heavy  beech  and  maple  woodland,  and  plowed  and  planted  it 
to  corn,  as  a  condition  precedent  to  attending  school  during  the 
winter  term.  This  desire  for  learning  did  not  cease  with  school, 
but  all  through  life  Mr.  Cornell  devoted  his  spare  time  to  reading 
and  investigation. 

Mr.  Cornell  was  endowed  with  rare  talent  for  mechanics  and 
practical  work.  His  first  year  after  school  was  spent  at  farm 
work  and  in  his  father's  pottery  ;  the  next  he  worked  at  carpentry, 
learning  the  trade  in  assisting  in  the  construction  of  a  new  factory 
for  his  father.  Upon  the  completion  of  this  building,  with  no 
help  but  that  of  his  younger  brother,  he  cut  the  necessary  lumber 
and  built  for  his  father's  family  a  two  story  dwelling,  which  at 
the  time  was  the  best  residence  in  DeRuyter,  and  even  now  after 
eighty-three  years  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  Ezra  left  home  in  the  quest  of  business 
and  after  a  couple  of  years  work  at  Syracuse  and  Homer,  came  to 
Ithaca,  then  a  little  village  of  about  two  thousand  inhabitants. 
He  entered  Ithaca  in  April  1828,  having  walked  from  his  home  at 
DeRuyter,  a  distance  of  forty  miles.  Without  a  single  acquaint- 
ance, with  no  letters  of  introduction  or  certificate  of  character,  he 
came  to  Ithaca  to  earn  his  living  and  establish  a  home.  How 
well  he  succeeded  is  a  matter  of  history. 

The  first  labor  performed  by  young  Cornell  in  Ithaca,  was  as  a 
carpenter  in  the  construction  of  a  dwelling,  known  as  the  Blood- 
good  house,  at  the  corner  of  Geneva  and  Clinton  Streets.  Shortly 
after  reaching  Ithaca  he  entered  the  employ  of  Otis  Eddy,  in  that 
gentleman's  cotton  factory,  which  occupied  the  site  of  the  present 
Cascadilla  Place  building.     About  a  year  later  he  was  hired  by 


358  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

Jeremiah  S.  Beebe,  as  millwright  and  machinist  in  the  extensive 
mills  at  Fall  Creek.  It  was  while  in  this  employ  that  Mr.  Cornell 
conceived  and  carried  out  the  idea  of  constructing  the  well  known 
Tunnel,  which  conveys  the  mill  race  to  the  mills  below  Ithaca 
Falls,  thus  doing  away  with  the  dangerous  and  expensively  main- 
tained wooden  flume  which  used  to  pass  around  the  face  of  the 
precipice.  The  Tunnel  was  built  in  1831,  and  has  been  in 
constant  use  ever  since.  Mr,  Cornell  also  supervised  the  construc- 
tion of  the  old  Beebe  Stone  dam  in  1838,  which  was  recently 
superseded  by  the  modern  dam  in  the  construction  of  Beebe  Lake. 
He  remained  with  Col>  Beebe  about  twelve  years  until  the  latter 
withdrew  from  active  business,  when  Mr.  Cornell  was  left  without 
employment,  the  mill  property  being  converted  into  a  woolen 
factory. 

Thus  it  came,  that  in  1841  he  was  forced   to  look   for  business 

elsewhere.  Fortunate  indeed  for  himself  and  those  dependent 
upon  him,  was  this  seeming  hardship,  for  it  was  while  seeking 
business  that  this  practical  man  was  thrown  into  contact  with 
those  who  were  just  then  experimenting  with  the  magnetic 
telegraph,  entirely  at  a  loss  as  to  how  to  utilize  the  magnificent 
instrumentality.  It  was  Mr.  Cornell's  quick  comprehension  as  to 
how  to  construct  the  telegraph  lines  that  first  united  their  interests, 
and  he  speedily  became  indispensable  to  the  development  of  the 
vast  enterprise,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  he  left  the  narrow 
path  of  his  early  life  and  entered  into  a  career,  not  only  vastly 
successful  for  himself,  but  of  equal  benefit  to  mankind. 

On  March  19,  1831,  Ezra  Cornell  married  Mary  Ann  Wood, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Wood,  of  Dryden,  N.  Y.,  and  shortly  there- 
after built  himself  a  home  on  a  plot  he  had  purchased  just  north 
of  JFall  Creek,  on  the  Lake  road,  opposite  Percy  Field,  where 
he  lived  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  where  his  nine  children 
were  born.  The  old  house  still  remains,  but  in  sad  repair  ;  it  was 
well  known  for  years  as  "  The  Nook." 

This  brief  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  Founder  of  Cornell  Univer- 
sity, up  to  the  time  of  his  becoming  associated  with  the  telegraph 
interests,  is  of  necessity  but  a  mere  recital  of  a  few  facts  connected 
with  that  busy  life,  but  in  them  one  may  readily  see  the  promise 
of  the  successful  career  which  was  in  after  years  the  reward  of 
that  indomitable  man,  Ezra  Cornell. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


359 


Thk  First  Telegraph  Instrument  and  The  First  Message.  Instrument 
used  as  the  receiver,  at  Baltimore,  of  the  famous  message  "What  hath  God 
wrought!" — the  first  message  transmitted  by  the  magnetic  telegraph, — in  May, 
1844.  Preserved  in  the  museum  of  Sibley  College,  where  this  photograph  was 
taken. 


EZRA  CORNELL  AND  THE  MAGNETIC 
TELEGRAPH* 

The  following  two  letters  of  Ezra  Cornell,  never  before  published,  were  written 
about  thirty-five  years  ago  to  Mr.  John  Horn,  of  Montreal,  in  response  to  inquiries 
addressed  to  Mr.  Cornell  regarding;  his  connection  with  the  telegraph  enterprise. 
They  form  part  of  a  large  collection  of  letters,  pictures  and  documents  on  the 
early  history  of  the  telegraph  which  Mr.  Horn  accumulated,  and  which  were  ac 
quired  a  few  years  aj^o  by  the  Uuiversity  Library.  The  letters  give  biiefly,  and 
in  Ezra  Cornell's  own  words,  the  story  of  his  part  in  the  construction  of  the  first 
telegraph  line  between  Washington  and  Baltimore. 

Cornell  University, 

Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  6,  1871. 
Jno.  Horn,  Esq., 

Dear  Sir: — Yours  of   15th  September  ha.s  been  lying  on  my 
desk  since  its  arrival,  awaiting-  attention. 

I  don't  know  now  what  to  write  you,  as  I  don't  know  your  aim 
in  reference  to  the  matter. 

It  is  true  that  I  know  much  of  the  early  history  of  the  Telegraph 
which  has  not  been  published,  and,  as  it  would  not  harmonize 
with  the  laudations  of  Professor  Morse  now  so  popular,  I  have 
thought  perhaps  it  not  best  to  hurry  it  up  for  public  attention. 

I  will  enclose  you  a  photograph  of  myself  and  await  further 
developments  in  reference  to  early  history  of  Telegraph. 

Yours  Respectfully,  Ezra  Cornell. 


36o  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

Ithaca,  Nov.  20,  1872. 
John  Horn,  Esq., 

My  Dear  Sir: — Vonr  letter  of  tlie  lytli  inst.  caine  to  hand 
this  niornino;  askiiij^  "  a  few  words  in  reference  to  your  (my)  early 
connection  with  the  Telegraph." 

This  being  the  third  request  of  like  import  that  you  have  made 
within  the  past  two  years,  I  propose  to  reply  upon  the  same  prin- 
ciple that  the  girl  justified  marriage  with  an  unpleasant  suitor, 
"  to  get  rid  of  him." 

I  can  place  only  a  brief  space  of  the  early  history  of  the  Tele- 
graph on  the  pages  of  a  single  letter,  and  having  my  mind  pre- 
occupied with  more  important  matters  at  present  (the  develop- 
ment of  the  Cornell  University)  I  scarcely  know  what  incident  to 
select,  as  likely  most  to  interest  you.    I  must  be  brief  and  general. 

After  obtaining  an  appropriation  from  Congress  of  $30,000  to 
build  an  experimental  line  of  Telegraph,  in  the  summer  of  1843 
Professor  Morse  decided  to  lay  the  line  from  Washington  to  Balti- 
more, and  let  the  contract  to  F.  O.  J.  Smith  of  Portland,  Me.  for 
placing  the  leaden  tube  containing  tlie  conductors  in  the  earth 
two  feet  below  tlie  surface  between  those  cities  at  a  cost  of  $100 
per  mile.  On  investigation  Smith  found  that  it  would  cost  him 
much  more  than  $100  per  mile  to  execute  the  contract,  and  sought 
means  to  cheapen  the  cost  of  doing  the  work.  At  this  juncture 
of  the  enterprise  he  appealed  to  me  for  aid.  I  invented  a  machine 
and  built  it  for  him  by  which  the  pipe  could  be  laid  at  about  $10 
per  mile.  Smith  engaged  me  to  go  to  Baltimore  and  take  charge 
of  the  work  of  laying  the  pipe  by  the  machine.  On  my  way  to 
Baltimore  I  stopped  at  New  York  to  see  Professor  Morse  to  learn 
how  soon  the  pipe  would  be  in  Baltimore  so  that  I  could  com- 
mence work.  While  visiting  the  works  where  the  pipe  was 
made,  with  Professor  Morse,  I  noticed  defects  in  the  pipe  which 
I  thought  would  render  them  useless.  I  called  the  Professor's 
attention  to  the  defects  ;  he  replied  that  Dr.  Fisher  (one  of  his 
assistants)  tested  the  pipes  in  a  manner  that  proved  them  to  be 
reliable — he  explained  the  mode  of  testing  the  pipes,  which  I  also 
condemned  as  an  unsafe  test  and  suggested  a  safe  test.  Profes- 
sor Morse  adhered  to  his  plan  and  sent  the  ])ipe  on  to  be  laid.  I 
received  the  pipe  at  Baltimore  and  laid  it  with  the  machine 
beautifully.     The  i)ipe  proved  defective  and  worthless  as    I    had 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  361 

foreseen,  and  Professor  Morse  proved  the  defects  in  the  first  mile 
of  pipe  hiid  ;  before  he  discovered  tlie  defects,  however,  I  had  "ot 
tlie  pipe  laid  as  far  as  the  Relay  House  ten  miles  from  Baltimore, 
and  there  I  broke  the  machine  for  laying  the  pipe  purposely  to 
conceal  from  the  public  the  failure  of  Professor  Morse's  plans  for 
working  the  telegraph. 

At  the  Relay  House,  Professor  Morse  convened  his  assistants 
and  contractor  Smith,  Gale,  Vail,  and  P'lsher,  and  canvassed  the 
situation,  which  appeared  as  follows  : — $22,000  of  the  appropria- 
tion expended,  $8,000  only  remaining,  work  all  a  failure,  the  wires 
only  of  value  in  further  prosecuting  the  enterprise,  and  they  in 
the  leaden  pipe  where  they  could  not  be  used.  Professor  Morse 
and  his  three  assistants  drawing  salaries  from  the  fund  at  the 
rate  of  $6,500  per  annum. 

At  the  close  of  this  conference  Gale  and  Fisher  resigned. 
Vail  declined  to  resign,  but  had  nothing  to  do,  but  draw  his 
salary  at  the  rate  of  $1,000  per  annum.  The  work  was  all  placed 
under  my  charge  as  Assistant  Superintendent,  and  from  that  time, 
December,  1843,  ^  went  forward  with  the  work  to  the  completion 
of  the  line  working  successfully  in  May,  1844.  without  assistance 
from  ]\Iorse,  Vail  or  Smith.  We  found  the  instruments  as  de- 
fective as  the  pipe  and  insulation,  and  could  scarcely  make  shift 
to  work  this  line  of  40  miles  with  the  instruments  made  by  Vail 
and  under  his  superintendents,  with  a  battery  of  eighty  grove 
cups — but  with  much  adjusting  and  tinkering  we  managed  to  use 
them.  They  failed,  however,  entirely  when  placed  on  a 
hundred  mile  circuit  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and 
new  and  other  instruments  had  to  be  provided.  The  line  from 
Washington  to  Baltimore  is  the  only  line  and  that  only  40  miles, 
upon  which  the  Morse  instruments  would  work. 

From  the  day  of  the  break-down  at  the  Relay  House  to  the  day 
of  his  death,  I  am  not  aware  that  Professor  Morse  made  a  suggestion 
or  a  hint  that  resulted  in  any  improvement,  invention,  or  further 
development  of  the  Telegraph  ;  but  in  several  instances  we  were 
misled  by  his  suggestions,  resulting  in  loss  and  much  embarrass- 
ment to  the  enterprise. 

If  I  have  omitted  any  special  point  upon  which  you  desire 
information,  you  must  call  my  attention  to  it,  and  I  will  respond 
as  I  find  time. 

Yours  Respectfully,  Ezra  Cornell. 


362 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


"The  Nook"  just  north  of  Fall  Creek,  on  the  Lake  Road,  opposite  Percy 
Field.  Built  by  Ezra  Cornell  shortly  after  his  marriage  in  1831  and  occupied  by 
himself  and  family  for  more  than  twenty  years.  Here  his  nine  children  were 
born.     From  a  photograph,  1907. 


A 


THE  LIFE  OF  EZRA  CORNELL,  I841-1865* 

BY  CHARLES  EZRA  CORNELL, 
Life  Trustee  of  Cornell  University. 

HISTORY  of  the  life  of  Ezra  Cornell,  from  the  time  of  his 
first  association  with  the  telegraph  until  the  founding  of 
Cornell  University,  wonld  read  like  romance  to  those  not 
acquainted  with  the  struggles  of  those  constructive  years  of  that 
period  of  American  development.  Thrown  out  of  employment  in 
1841,  after  unsuccessfully  seeking  work  near  home,  he  purchased 
the  rights  to  sell  an  improved  plow  in  the  states  of  Maine  and 
Georgia.  In  the  spring  of  1842  starting  out  on  his  new  under- 
taking, he  sought  out  Hon.  F.  O.  J.  Smith,  of  Portland,  Maine, 
Member  of  Congress,  Editor  of  the  Maine  Fanner^  and  a  man  of 
great  influence  in  his  own  state.  Convinced  of  the  merit  of  Mr. 
Cornell's  plow,  Mr.  Smith  readily  became  an  advocate  for  its  sale, 
and  commended  its  use  to  the  readers  of  his  paper.  Very  cordial 
relations  were  soon  established  between  Air.  Cornell  and  the 
editor,  which  naturally  led  to  clo.ser  ties  in  the  coming  years. 
In  the  autumn  of  that  same  year,  Mr.  Cornell  went  from  Maine 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  363 

to  Washington.  Thence  jonrneying-  on  foot,  as  there  were  no  rail 
roads  and  the  stages  were  very  primitive,  he  went  south  through 
the  state  of  Georgia,  and  back  to  Washington,  covering  a  distance 
of  over  fifteen  hundred  miles,  walking  an  average  of  about  forty 
miles  per  day.  As  the  poverty  of  the  country  prohibited  the 
ready  sale  of  even  seeming  necessities,  he  returned  to  Ithaca  quite 
discouraged  with  his  new  enterprise. 

Tiie  following  spring,  1843,  ^^^  again  started  for  Maine,  for  the 
purpose  of  closing  out  his  plow  interests.  He  made  the  journey 
from  Ithaca  to  Albany,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles, 
onjoot,  in  four  days  time,  thence,  by  rail,  to  Boston,  thence,  on 
footN^gain,  to  Portland,  one  hundred  and  two  miles,  which  he 
covered  in  two  and  one-half  days.  In  writing  of  this  trip  after- 
wards, Air.  Cornell  said,  "  Traveling  on  foot  has  always  been  a 
source  of  great  enjoyment  to  me.  "  If   I    had   the  time  to  spend  in 

pleasure  travel,  I  should  prefer  to  walk Nature  can 

in  no  way  be  so  satisfactorily  enjoyed,  as   through  the   opportun- 
ities afforded  the  pedestrian." 

On  reaching  Portland  he  immediately  called  upon  Mr.  Smith, 
to  renew  their  friendship  of  the  previous  year.  He  found  that 
gentleman  trying  to  explain  to  a  plow  manufacturer,  some  imple- 
ments which  he  needed  in  the  construction  of  a  telegraph  line. 
Mr.  Smith  greeted  Mr.  Cornell  with  delight,  as  the  very  man  he 
wanted  in  his  dilemma.  He  explained  to  Mr.  Cornell  what  he 
wished  to  accomplish,  and  the  latter,  taking  a  piece  of  chalk, 
sketched  out  on  the  rough  board  floor  the  draft  of  a  machine, 
which  he  assured  his  friend  would  not  only  dig  the  trench 
required,  but  would  lay  the  wire,  enclosed  in  a  hollow  pipe,  and 
cover  it  up  with  soil,  all  in  one  operation.  At  the  urgent  request 
of  Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Cornell  consented  to  undertake  the  construc- 
tion of  such  a  machine,  and  immediately  began  work  on  it.  The 
machine  was  completed  on  August  17,  1843,  '^'^^  °"  August  19, 
Prof.  S.  F.  B.  Alorse  was,  on  invitation,  present  to  see  it  put  in 
successful  operation. 

Thus  began  the  association  of  Ezra  Cornell  with  those  interests 
which  were  destined  to  revolutionize  the  conduct  of  the  world's 
business.  For  the  next  twenty  years  the  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  telegraph  and  the  life  of  Ezra  Cornell  became  one,  so 


364  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

iiitiinately  were  they  woven.  He  was  the  constructive  element 
of  tliat  vast  enterprise  which  has  ^rown  to  h^  one  of  the  most 
potent  factors  in  modern  business  affairs. 

The  successful  operation  of  the  first  line  of  telegraph,  between 
Baltimore  and  Washington,  built  under  federal  appropriation, 
afforded  satisfactory  evidence  of  its  practicability  for  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  intended,  and  Mr.  Cornell,  now  most 
thoroughly  convinced  that  its  utilization  for  public  jjurposes 
would  bring  profitable  patronage,  determined  to  devote  himself  to 
the  development  of  the  telegraph  as  a  business  enterprise,  and 
accordingly  spent  some  time  at  Washington  familiarizing  iiimself 
with  its  practical  workings. 

After  a  brief  visit  at  home,  from  which  he  had  been  absent 
nearly  a  year,  he  proceeded  to  Boston  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
the  telegraph  to  the  attention  of  moneyed  men,  but  being  unsuc- 
cessful there  he  went  to  New  York  and  constructed  a  line  for 
demonstration  in  that  city.  By  great  personal  effort,  a  few  people 
were  finally  induced  to  risk  small  amounts  in  the  venture,  and 
the  "  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company  "  was  formed,  being  the  first 
of  its  kind  incorporated  for  the  proposed  business.  Other 
companies  followed  slowly,  each  being  organized  only  after  the 
greatest  labor.  One  w-as  built  from  New  York  to  Boston,  in  1845, 
another  from  New  York  to  Buffalo,  of  which  the  section  from 
Albany  to  Buffalo  was  constructed  that  same  year.  The  section 
from  New  York  to  Albany  was  completed  by  Mr.  Cornell  in  1846, 
by  private  contract  ;  this  was  the  first  work  Mr.  Cornell  was  able 
to  conduct  for  his  own  personal  advantage,  and  he  realized  from 
it  a  profit  of  about  six  thousand  dollars.  Afterwards  he  built  a 
line  in  Canada,  and  then  erected  one  from  Tro}-,  New  York  to 
Montreal. 

These  several  contracts  proved  highly  profitable  and  enabled 
Mr.  Cornell  to  undertake  greater  work  on  his  own  account.  He 
organized  the  I^rie  and  Michigan  Telegraph  Company,  between 
Buffalo  and  Milwaukee,  also  the  New  York  and  Erie  to  connect 
the  former  line  with  New  York  City  through  the  southern  section 
of  New  York  State. 

Many  local  lines  were  built  all  through  the  rapidly  growing 
west,  and  the  rival  interests  created  a  bitter  warfare,  threatening 
ruin  to  the  entire  industry.     Various  attempts  had  been  made  to 


rifE  CORNELL  ERA  365 

bring  these  interests  together,  bnt  nothing  was  accomplished  nntil 
Mr.  Cornell  and  some  of  the  other  principal  owners  of  telegraph 
properties  sncceeded,  in  1855,  in  consolidating  the  lines,  and  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  was  organized,  by  a  combina- 
tion of  these  local  companies.  j\Ir.  Cornell  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  was  one  of 
its  earliest  directors,  in  which  capacity  he  was  identified  with  its 
management  for  twenty  years,  and  for  more  than  fifteen  years  he 
was  its  largest  individnal  stockholder. 

From  the  commencement  of  his  career  in  telegraph  matters, 
jNIr.  Cornell  showed  his  faith  by  investing  every  dollar  of  his 
earnings  in  the  bnsiness,  and  declined  to  part  with  his  holdings, 
until  the  building  of  the  University  required  him  to  realize  on 
his  telegraph  stock  to  provide  means  for  this  great  undertaking. 

What  Ezra  Cornell  suffered  and  how  great  were  his  labors, 
both  with  hands  and  brain  during  this  period  of  nearly  twenty 
years,  is  almost  beyond  belief.  He  traveled  nights  and  worked 
days,  hesitated  at  no  exposure  ;  heat,  cold  or  storm  did  not  deter 
him.  The  wiry  vigor  of  his  manhood  enabled  him  to  bear  this 
most  severe  test,  and  there  was  probably  no  harder  worker  in  any 
walk  in  life  in  those  days  than  Ezra  Cornell,  and  for  a  portion  of 
that  time,  none  poorer. 

His  industry  and  integrity  were  of  the  highest  order,  but  these 
did  not  buy  bread.  Money  he  had  not,  and  his  humble  home 
was  kept  from  suffering  only  by  the  strictest  economy  and  good 
management.  His  faith  in  final  success  seemed  to  some  almost 
fanatical,  but  it  was  well  founded,  and  as  the  day  dawned  at  last, 
after  the  frightful  nightmare  of  pinching  poverty  and  endless 
struggle,  it  found  the  man  worthy  of  the  awakening.  The  fortune 
that  was  his  was  not  for  selfish  ends,  it  was  God-given  unto  a 
stewardship  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellowmen.  To  relieve  suffering, 
to  comfort  and  help  the  weak,  to  assist  others  to  a  self-sustaining 
basis,  to  inspire  to  noble  deeds,  to  uplift  humanity,  was  his  desire, 
and  so  quietly  and  unostentatiously  did  he  render  assistance  that 
it  may  be  truthfully  said  of  him  that  his  "right  hand  knew  not 
what  the  left  hand  did." 

Mr.  Cornell  was  always  interested  in  agricultural  affairs,  and  a 
great  lover  of  fine  stock,  partially  to   satisfy  this  desire,  he  pur- 


S  ifl  M 
^  ""  u 

^  —    N 

«  £  "> 

—  CO 

—  X  ae 

?2  >> 
51^2 

■/.  r  i  o 
i;  ir-'. 
u  ■/;  f^  s 

—  .    •  n 

J.    I-    y  _■ 


'•J  t. 


ex*  n 


5  -  ^  * 
.5  ■"^  X  i« 


-'JO. 

;  -C  T  '' 


5  K  -^  F 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  367 

chased,  in  1857,  Forest  Park  farm  for  a  home;  it  consisted  of  a 
tract  of  abont  three  hnndred  acres,  comprising  all  that  area  on 
east  hill  between  Cascadilla  and  Fall  Creeks,  east  of  University 
Avenne,  excepting  the  city  cemetery,  bnt  inclnding  the  Jennie 
McGraw  Fiske  property,  and  all  east  to  the  Forest  Home  road  east 
of  the  new  Athletic  Field,  the  greater  portion  of  which  afterwards 
became  the  home  of  Cornell  University.  The  honse,  remodeled 
several  years  ago,  is  now  occnpied  as  a  residence  by  his  second 
son,  Franklin  C.  Cornell.  Here  Mr.  Cornell  gathered  together  a 
magnificent  herd  of  shorthorn  cattle,  several  of  which  he  pnr- 
chased  in  Europe  when  he  was  there  in  1862  ;  this  herd  had  a 
national  reputation,  and  was  maintained  for  a  number  of  years 
after  ]\Ir.  Cornell's  death,  until  the  encroachment  of  the  University 
made  its  disposal  advisable. 

In  1862,  desirous  of  doing  something  to  benefit  the  village  of 
his  adoption  and  to  encourage  the  rising  generations  to  mental 
improvement,  Mr.  Cornell  presented  to  the  citizens  of  Ithaca  the 
Cornell  Library,  at  the  corner  of  Tioga  and  Seneca  streets.  This 
property  represents  an  expenditure  of  approximately  seventy 
thousand  dollars,  and  was  dedicated  with  impressive  services  on 
December  20,  1866.  An  indication  of  its  appreciation  by  the 
present  generation  is  the  fact  that  the  circulation  of  the  Library 
for  the  year  1906,  as  shown  by  the  report  of  the  Librarian,  was 
forty-two  thousand  volumes. 

The  Ezra  Cornell  who  was  known  to  almost  every  inhabitant 
of  Ithaca,  and  widely  known  throughout  the  county,  was  a  man 
to  attract  attention  anywhere.  He  was  six  feet  tall,  with  a  mag- 
nificent constitution  strengthened  by  a  life  of  hard  labor  and  frugal 
living,  rather  spare  in  figure,  with  fine  muscular  development. 
His  features  were  rugged,  with  high  cheek  bones,  firm  jaw,  and  a 
prominent  forehead  indicating  marked  alertness  of  the  perceptive 
faculties.  He  wore  a  sparse  beard,  and  always  dressed  plainly  but 
neatly.  Though  naturally  reserved,  he  had  a  most  cordial  and 
kindly  manner,  with  a  well  developed  sense  of  humor,  and  a  most 
sympathetic  nature.  Many  kind  deeds  known  only  to  the  recipi- 
ent and  the  doer  followed  the  path  of  Ezra  Cornell,  and  many  a 
burdened  heart  he  made  lighter  with  cheering  word  or  ready  gift. 

As  a  public  servant,  Mr.  Cornell  served  two  years  in  the  Assem. 
bly    and    four    years    in    the    Senate    of    the    New    York    State 


MRS.    EZRA   CORNELL   nee   MARY   ANN   WOOD. 

Born  Apr.  25,  181 1. 
Died  Sept.  2,  1891. 

Legislature,  with  credit  to  himself  and  honor  to  the  State.  Dur- 
ing this  period  began  his  acquaintance  with  Andrew  D.  White, 
the  honored  first  president  of  Cornell  University. 

Space  permits  only  the  scantiest  outline  of  some  of  the  events 
in  the  life  of  Ezra  Cornell  during  this  arduous  period  from  1840 
to  the  founding  of  the  University,  but  it  were  only  just  to  add, 
and  could  the  man  himself  tell,  he  would  say,  that  the  fruition  of 
the  vast  endeavors  of  the  struggling,  indomitable  man  was  made 
possible  and  sweeter  by  the  faithful  cooperation,  the  encourage- 
ment, the  sympathy  and  the  patient  suffering  and  self-denial  of 
his  devoted  wife,  and  the  noble  sacrifices  and  assistance  of  his 
eldest  son  in  caring  for  the  family  while  the  father  was  on  his 
mission. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  369 

THE  PROPOSAL  FOR  A  UNIVERSITY. 

BY    ANDREW    D.    WHITE. 

From  "  My  Reminiscences  of  Ezra  Cornell." 

Reprinted  by  Ptttnission 

I  WAS  one  day  going  down  from  the  State  Capitol,  when  Mr. 
Cornell  joined  me  and  entered  into  conversation.  He  was,  as 
usual,  austere  and  reserved  in  appearance,  but  I  had  already  found 
that  below  this  appearance  there  was  a  warm  heart  and  noble 
purpose ;  no  observant  associate  could  fail  to  notice  that  the  only 
measures  in  the  Legislature  which  he  cared  for  were  those  pro- 
posing some  substantial  good  to  the  State  or  Nation,  and  that 
political  wrangling  and  partisan  jugglery  he  despised. 

On  this  occasion  after  some  little  general  talk  he  quietly  said, 
"  I  have  about  half  a  million  dollars  more  than  my  family  will 
need  ;  what  is  the  best  thing  I  can  do  with  it  for  the  State?"  I 
answered.  "  ]\Ir.  Cornell,  the  two  things  most  worthy  of  aid  in  any 
country  are  charity  and  education  ;  but  in  our  country,  the 
charities  appeal  to  everybod)- ;  anyone  can  understand  the  impor- 
tance of  them,  and  the  worthy  poor  or  unfortunate  are  sure  to  be 
taken  care  of.  As  to  education,  the  lower  grade  will  always  be  cared 
for  in  the  public  schools  by  the  State,  but  the  institutions  of  the 
highest  grade,  without  which  the  lower  can  never  be  thoroughly 
good,  can  be  appreciated  by  only  a  few.  The  policy  of  our  State  is 
to  leave  this  part  of  the  system  to  individuals  ;  it  seems  to  me, 
then,  that  if  you  have  half  a  million  to  give,  the  best  thing  you 
can  do  with  it  is  to  establish  or  strengthen  some  institution  for 
higher  instruction."  I  then  went  on  to  show  him  the  need  of  a 
larger  institution  for  such  instruction  than  the  state  then  had — 
that  such  a  college  or  universit)-  worthy  of  the  State  would 
require  far  more  in  the  way  of  faculty  and  equipment  than  most 
men  supposed, — that  the  time  had  come  when  scientific  and 
technical  education  must  be  provided  for  in  such  an  institution,— - 
and  that  literary  education  should  be  made  the  flower  and  bloom 
of  the  system  thus  embodied. 

He  listened  attentively,  but  said  little.  The  matter  seemed  to 
end  there  ;  but  not  long  afterward  he  came  to  me  and  said,  "  I 
agree  with  you  that  the  land-grant  fund  ought  to  be  kept  together, 


370  Tin:  CORNELL  ERA 

and  that  there  should  be  a  new  institution  fitted  to  the  present 
needs  of  the  State  and  the  country  ;  I  am  ready  to  pledge  to  such 
an  institution  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  as  an  addition  to  the 
land-grant  endcnvnient."  .... 

As  may  be  imagined    I    hailed    this    proposal    joyfully,  and    a 
sketch  of  a  h\\\  embodying  his  purpose  was  soon  made. 


THE    INCORPORATION    OF    CORNELL    UNI- 
VERSITY. 

BY  HON.   HENRY  B.  LORD, 

Alember  of  New   York  State  .Issonbly,    /S6/-/S6j. 

"  The  Cornell  bill  was  advocated  most  earnestly  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Henry  B. 
Lord  ;  in  his  unpretentious  way  he  marshalled  the  university  forces,  and  moved 
that  the  bill  be  taken  from  the  committee  and  referred  to  the  Committee  of  the 
Whole."  Andrkw  D.  White  :  Autobiogfaphy. 

IN  compliance  with  your  request  I  will,  as  briefly  as  possible,  give 
you  my  recollections  of  the  circumstances  of  the  passage  of  the 
act  chartering  Cornell  University.  This  act  became  a  law  in 
xApril,  1865.  The  story  of  the  desperate  and  unscrupulous  oppo- 
sition it  encountered  from  the  moment  of  its  introduction  in  the 
Senate  by  Ezra  Cornell  to  its  final  passage  is  so  fully  told  in  Prof. 
Hewett's  "  History  of  Cornell  University  "  that  I  can  add  little 
to  it. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Congress  of  July,  1862,  com- 
monly known  as  the  Morrill  Act,  from  the  name  of  its  author, 
Senator  INIorrill,  of  Vermont,  scrip  representing  990,000  acres  of 
the  public  domain — 30,000  acres  for  each  representative  in  Con- 
gress of  the  Stale  of  New  York — was  issued  and  forwarded  to  the 
Comptroller  of  the  State.  This  scrip  was  to  be  disposed  of  by  that 
officer  at  his  discretion  as  to  time  and  price,  and  the  money  so  real- 
ized he  was  required  to  invest  in  securities  not  yielding  less  than 
five  per  cent.  The  interest  on  the  fund  was  to  be  paid  over  to  the 
institution  or  institutions  designated  by  the  Legislature  as  benefi- 
ciaries. The  principal  was  to  be  held  forever  by  the  State  as  trus- 
tee for  the  beneficiaries. 

A  few  years  previous  to  the  passage  of  the  INIorrill  Act,  an  insti- 
tution called  the  People's  College  had  been  founded  at  Watkins 
in  Scluuler  County  at  the  instance  of  Charles  Cook,  a  man  of  abil- 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  371 

ity  and  influence,  who  had  foiineily  been  a  Senator  of  the  State. 
He  was  possessed  of  large  means  and  he  promised  to  bestow  upon 
the  People's  College  an  ample  endowment.  Upon  the  passage  of 
the  Morrill  Act,  Mr.  Cook,  backed  by  a  powerful  influence  includ- 
ing well  known  and  highly  esteemed  friends  of  education,  applied 
to  the  Legislature  of  1863  to  designate  his  institution  as  the  benefi- 
ciary to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  Morrill  Act.  There  was  little 
opposition  made  to  this  application.  But,  as  the  People's  College 
had  been  nominally  in  existence  for  a  term  of  years,  and  had  never 
attained  a  higher  rank  than  that  of  an  academy,  the  Legislature 
affixed  to  its  grant  certain  conditions  relative  to  accommodations 
for  students,  faculty,  and  necessary  library  and  apparatus.  These 
conditions  were  made  pre-requisites  to  be  fully  complied  with  be- 
fore any  monies  should  be  paid  over  to  the  People's  College,  and 
two  years  from  the  passage  of  the  act  b)-  the  Legislature  was  fixed 
as  the  period  within  which  the  conditions  should  be  met. 

Month  after  month  passed  without  any  movement  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  Cook  or  the  friends  of  the  People's  College  to  place  that  in- 
stitution in  a  condition  to  avail  itself  of  the  legislative  grant. 
The  assembling  of  the  Legislature  of  1865  drew  near.  Anticipat- 
ing the  forfeiture  of  the  grant,  through  the  neglect  of  the  People's 
College  to  com-ply  with  its  terms,  Ezra  Cornell,  early  in  the  ses- 
sion, came  forward  and  offered  to  give  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars to  an  institution  to  be  established  at  Ithaca,  provided  the  in- 
stitution should  be  made  by  the  Legislature  the  beneficiary  of  the 
fund  created  by  the  ^Morrill  Act. 

The  first  President  of  Cornell  University,  Andrew  D.  White, 
■was  at  that  time  a  colleague  of  Ezra  Cornell  in  the  Senate  from 
the  Onondaga  District.  He  at  once  became  deeply  interested  in 
Mr.  Cornell's  measure.  The  bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Cornell  was 
largely  shaped  by  his  advice  and  suggestions.  This  bill  embodied 
]\Ir.  Cornell's  offer  and  his  application  for  the  transfer  of  the  fund 
created  by  the  ]\Iorrill  Act  to  the  institution  which  he  proposed  to 
establish  at  Ithaca.  After  the  introduction  of  the  bill,  Mr.  White 
lent  the  powerful  influence  which  his  consummate  ability  had  ac- 
quired to  its  support  through  all  its  stages  to  its  final  passage. 

The  opposition  to  Mr.  Cornell's  bill  arose  from  two  sources — 
the  friends  and  agents  of  the  People's  College,  and  the  friends  and 
agents  of  most  of  the  denominational  colleges  of  the  State  ;  the 


372  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

former  seeking  to  retain  the  hold  of  that  institution  on  the  fund, 
the  latter  seeking  its  division  among  themselves,  A  persistent 
and  bitter  fight  was  made  against  the  bill.  But  all  efforts  to  pre- 
vent its  passage  by  the  Senate  were  unavailing,  and  all  the  efforts 
of  the  opposition  were  directed  against  its  passage  by  the  House. 
To  succeed  in  this  no  pains  were  spared — no  means  left  untried. 

When  the  bill  came  down  to  the  House  it  was  referred  to  a 
special  committee  consisting  of  the  committees  on  Education  and 
Agriculture.  The  Chairman  was  Sanford  of  Oswego,  who  was  at 
the  head  of  the  Committee  on  Education.  This  special  committee 
soon  appointed  a  day  for  a  hearing,  which  I  attended.  The 
opponents  of  the  bill  had  secured  the  services  of  a  lawyer  of  great 
ability,  especially  noted  as  a  master  of  the  vocabulary  of  abuse. 
On  this  occasion  he  fully  sustained  his  reputation.  For  an  hour 
he  poured  out  on  Mr.  Cornell  a  stream  of  invective,  apparently 
inexhaustible.  He  and  his  clients  were  "  wise  in  their  genera- 
tion." On  the  merits  of  the  case  Mr.  Cornell  and  the  friends  of 
the  bill  were  impregnable  and  his  opponents  knew  it.  Their  only 
hope  lay  in  aspersing  their  motives  and  thus  exciting  a  prejudice 
which  might  affect  the  measure  they  advocated.  Nothing  showed 
the  quality  of  the  man  more  clearly  than  the  manner  in  which  he 
received  this  attack.  Calm,  serene,  and  dignifiegl,  all  the  oppro- 
brious epithets  showered  upon  him  "  passed  by  him  as  the  idle 
wind." 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  Committee  to  which  the  bill 
had  been  referred  intended  to  kill  it  by  putting  off,  under  various 
pretexts,  a  report  upon  it.  No  other  resource  seemed  open  to  its 
friends  except  the  somewhat  desperate  one  of  moving  that  the 
House  order  the  Committee  forthwith  to  report  the  bill  for  con- 
sideration and  that  the  Committee  be  discharged.  This  is  an  ex- 
pedient reserved  for  extreme  cases. 

Here  I  will  relate  an  incident,  which  is  entirely  outside  of  any 
record  of  legislative  procedure.  I  was  then  serving  on  the  Com- 
mittee of  Ways  and  Means.  To  that  committee  a  bill  had  been 
referred  providing  for  the  first  appropriation  for  the  erection  of  a 
new  State  Capitol.  Sufficient  opposition  had  developed  against 
that  bill  to  cause  some  nervousness  on  the  part  of  its  friends.  I\Iy 
associates  on  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  were  all  in  favor 
of  the  bill  chartering  our  University.     Some  of  them  were  able 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  373 

men  of  great  influence  in  the  House  (one,  Abram  B.  Weaver,  was 
a  charter  member  of  our  Board  of  Trustees  and  afterwards  as 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  an  ex-officio  member).  All 
proposed  to  unite  with  me  in  notifying  certain  influential  friends 
of  the  Capitol  Bill  that  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  could 
and  would  hold  back  the  Capitol  Bill  as  long  as  the  joint  Com- 
mittee held  our  University  Bill.  This  notification  was  made. 
Precisely  how  much  influence  this  action  had,  I,  of  course,  cannot 
say.  But  I  do  know  that  when  I  moved  after  a  few  prefatory 
remarks  that  the  House  direct  the  Joint  Committee  forthwith  to 
report  the  bill  chartering  Cornell  University  for  consideration, 
several  friends  of  the  Capitol  Bill,  among  whom  the  Senator  from 
Albany  was  conspicuous,  were  most  busily  engaged  in  bringing  in 
their  friends  to  vote  for  the  pending  motion  which  was  carried  by 
a  decisive  majority.  By  this  vote  the  temper  of  the  House  was  so 
clearlv  shown  that  the  fight  was  virtually  ended.  When  the  bill 
came  up  on  its  third  reading,  the  opposition  was  feeble. 

That  the  friends  of  the  People's  College  might  be  deprived  of 
every  cause  of  complaint,  six  months  from  the  passage  of  the  Act 
was  allowed  it  in  which  to  comply  with  the  conditions  imposed 
upon  it.  This  period  passed  without  action  on  their  part  and  the 
transaction  was  closed. 


FROM  AN  ACT  OF  THE  N.  Y.  LEGISLATURE 
ESTABLISHING  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY. 

Chapter  585  of  the  Laws  of  1865. 

§4.  The  leading  objed  of  the  corporation  hereby  created 
shall  be  to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to 
agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  including  military  tactics ; 
in  order  to  promote  the  liberal  and  pradical  education  of 
the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and  professions 
in  life.  But  such  other  branches  of  science  and  knowledge 
may  be  embraced  in  the  plan  of  instruction  and  mvestiga- 
tion  pertaining  to  the  university  as  the  trustees  may  deem 
useful  and  proper.  And  persons  of  every  religious  denom- 
ination, or  of  no  religious  denomination,  shall  be  equally 
eligible  to  all  offices  and  appointments. 


;74 


THE  CORNIU.L   ERA 


The  First  Breaking  Ground  for  Cornell  University. — Orening  of  the 
Quarry,  on  the  slope  west  of  the  present  University  buildings.  From  this  quarry 
the  stone  for  Morrill  Hall  was  cut  about  1867. 

This  plate  was  made  for  the  Twenty  Five  Year  Book,  1893,  but  was  rejected  as 
a  failure  and  not  inserted.  Evidently  some  attempt  at  retouching  has  been 
made  :  it  has  been  hardly  successful.  The  origii  al  picture  is  now  lost  and  the 
plate  cannot  be  improved. 


[illustration  on  opposite  page  ] 
CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  IN  J 868. 

FROM   THE   TWENTY-FIVE   YEAR    BOOK,   1893. 

The  view  is  from  the  cupola  of  the  Clinton  House,  looking  toward  East  Hill. 
On  the  crest  of  the  hill,  at  the  left-hand  upper  corner  of  the  picture,  may  be  seen 
Morrill  Hall  (then  called  "South  University  "  1,  the  one  building  completed.  Just 
to  the  right  of  it  the  temporary  shelter  of  the  chime  is  nearly  hidden  by  the  trees. 
Near  the  right-hand  upper  corner  appears  Cascadilla  Place,  built  for  a  watercure 
establishment,  but  given  to  the  University  at  its  opening,  and  of  the  utmost  ser- 
vice in  its  early  years.  To  the  right  of  this,  in  the  background,  the  "  Giles  Place" 
(now  Cascadilla  Cottage,  the  residence  of  Professor  Corson).  On  the  left  of  the 
picture,  beyond  Cascadilla  gorge,  the  village  burying-ground  is  seen,  and,  cross- 
ing it,  the  footpath,  then  as  ever  since  the  favorite  short-cut  to  the  Campus. 


376 


'11  fl-    CORXl'.I.L   r.RA 


Chair  occupied  bv  Ezra  Cornkij.  at  thk  opening  of  the  University. 
Preserved  in  the  the  President  While  Lil)rary,  A-here  tliis  photograph  was  taken. 

ADDRESS  OF  EZRA  CORNELL  AT  THE  OPENING 
OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

IN  thp:  hall  of  the  Cornell  library, 

ITHACA,  N.  Y.,  OCT.   7TH,    1 868. 

MR.  Chairman,  Citizens,  and  Friends  : 
I  tear  that  many  of  you  have  visited  Ithaca  at  this  time 
to  meet  with  disappointment.  If  you  came  as  did  a  friend  recent- 
ly from  Pennsylvania,  expecting  to  find  a  finished  institution, 
you  will  look  around,  be  disappointed  with  what  you  see,  and  re- 
port as  he  did,  "  I  did  not  find  one  single  thing  finished." 

Such,  my  friends,  is  not  tlie  entertainment  we  invited  you  to. 
We  did  not  expect  to  have  "  a  single  thing  finished,"  we  did  not 
desire  it,  and  we  liave  not  directed  our  energies  to  that  end.  It  is 
the  commencement  that  we  have  now  in  liand.  We  did  expect 
to  have  commenced  an  institution  of  learning — which  will  mature 
in  the  future  to  a  great  degree  of  usefulness,  which  will  place  at 
the  disposal  of  the  industrial  and  productive  classes  of  society  the 
best  facilities  for  the  acquirement  of  practical  knowledge  and 
mental  culture,  on  such  terms  as  the  limited  means  of  the  most 
humble  can  command. 


THE  CORNELL   ERA.  2,11 

I  hope  that  we  have  laid  the  foundation  of  an  institution  which 
shall  combine  practical  with  liberal  education,  which  shall  fit  the 
youth  of  our  country  for  the  professions,  the  farms,  the  mines,  the 
manufactories,  for  the  investigations  of  science,  and  for  mastering 
all  the  practical  questions  of  life  with  success  and  honor. 

I  believe  that  we  have  made  the  beginning  of  an  institution 
which  will  prove  highly  beneficial  to  the  poor  young  men  and 
the  poor  young  women  of  our  country.  This  is  one  thing  which 
we  have  not  finished,  but  in  the  course  of  time  we  hope  to  reach 
such  a  state  of  perfection  as  will  enable  anyone  by  honest  efforts 
and  earnest  labor  to  secure  a  thorough,  practical,  scientific  or 
classical  education.  The  individual  is  better,  society  is  better, 
and  the  state  is  better,  for  the  culture  of  the  citizen  ;  therefore,  we 
desire  to  extend  the  means  for  the  culture  of  all. 

I  trust  that  we  have  made  the  beginning  of  an  institution  that 
shall  bring  science  more  directly  to  tlie  aid  of  agriculture,  and  the 
other  brandies  of  productive  labor.  Chemistry  has  the  same  great 
stores  of  wealth  in  reserve  for  agriculture  that  it  has  lavished  so 
profusely  upon  the  arts.  We  must  instruct  the  young  farmer 
how  to  avail  himself  of  this  hidden  treasure. 

The  veterinarian  will  shield  himself  against  many  of  the  losses 
which  are  frequent  in  his  flocks  and  herds,  losses  which  are  now 
submitted  to  as  matters  of  course  by  the  uneducated  farmer,  and 
which,  in  the  aggregate,  amount  to  millions  of  dollars  every  year 
in  our  own  state  alone. 

The  entomologist  must  arm  himself  for  more  successful  warfare 
in  defense  of  his  growing  crops,  as  the  ravages  of  insects  upon 
both  grain  and  fruit  have  become  enormous,  resulting  also  in  the 
loss  of  many  millions  of  dollars  each  year. 

Thus,  in  whatever  direction  we  turn,  we  find  ample  opportunity 
for  the  applications  of  science  in  aid  of  the  toiling  millions.  May 
we  not  hope  that  we  have  made  the  beginning  of  an  institution 
which  will  strengthen  the  arm  of  the  mechanic  and  multiply  his 
powers  of  production  through  the  agency  of  a  better  cultivated 
brain?  Any  person  who  visits  our  Patent  OflEice  at  Washington, 
and  contemplates  the  long  halls  stored  with  rejected  models,  will 
realize  that  our  mechanics  have  great  need  of  this  aid. 

The  farmer  is  also  enriched  by  increasing  the  knowledge  and 
power  of  the  mechanic.     Mechanism,  as  applied  to  agriculture, 


378  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

was  the  great  motive  power  which  enabled  the  American  farmers 
to  feed  the  nation  wliile  it  was  strnggling  for  existence  against 
the  late  wicked  rebellion,  and  it  will  enable  them  to  pay  the  vast 
debts  incnrred  by  the  nation  while  it  was  crnshing  that  rebellion. 
This  is  an  inviting  field  in  which  we  must  labor  most  earnestly. 
The  mechanic  should  cease  the  fruitless  effort  "  to  bore  an  augur 
hole  with  a  gimlet.'" 

I  desire  that  this  shall  prove  to  be  the  beginning  of  an  institu- 
tion which  shall  furnish  better  means  for  the  culture  of  men  of 
every  calling,  of  every  aim  ;  which  shall  make  men  more  truthful, 
more  honest,  more  virtuous,  more  manly  ;  which  shall  give  them 
higher  purposes  and  more  lofty  aims,  qualifying  them  to  serve  their 
fellow-men  better,  preparing  them  to  serve  society  better,  training 
them  to  be  more  useful  in  their  relations  to  the  state,  and  to  better 
comprehend  their  higher  and  holier  relations  to  their  families  and 
their  God.  It  shall  be  our  aim,  and  our  constant  effort  to  make 
true  Christian  men,  without  dwarfing  or  paring  them  down  to  fit 
the  narrow  gauge  of  any  sect. 

Finally,  I  trust  we  have  laid  the  foundation  of  an  university — 
"an  institution  where  any  person  can  find  instruction  in  any 
study." 

Such  have  been  our  purposes.  In  that  direction  we  have  put 
forth  our  efforts,  and  on  the  future  of  such  an  institution  we  rest 
our  hopes.  If  we  have  been  successful  in  our  beginning,  to  that 
extent  and  no  further  may  we  hope  to  be  encouraged  by  the  award 
of  your  approval.  We  have  purposed  that  the  finishing  shall  be 
the  work  of  the  future,  and  we  ask  that  its  approval  or  condemna- 
tion shall  rest  upon  the  quality  of  its  maturing  fruit. 

To  take  the  leadership  of  this  great  work  we  have  selected  a 
gentleman  and  a  scholar,  who,  though  young  in  years,  we  present 
to  you  to-day  for  inauguration,  with  entire  confidence  that  the 
"  right  man  is  in  the  right  place." 

We  have  also  selected  a  faculty  which  I  trust  will  very  soon 
convince  you  that  we  have  not  thus  early  in  the  enterprise  com- 
menced blundering.  They  are  in  the  main  young  men,  and  they 
are  quite  content  to  be  judged  by  their  works. 

Invoking  the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  our  undertaking,  we 
commend  our  cause  to  the  scrutiny  and  the  judgment  of  the 
American  people. 


THE  CORNELL   ERA 


379 


MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY. 

HV    PROFESSOR   J.    M.    HART. 


"  Professor  Hait  has  set  himself  vigorously 
to  elevate  the  instruction  in  rhetoric,  and 
especially  in  e'ementary  English,  in  which  he 
found  the  prevailing  instruction  in  the  second- 
ary schools  of  the  state  very  deficient.  His 
services  in  this  direction,  both  within  the  uni- 
versity and  in  the  public  schools,  have  effected 
a  revolution  in  the  character  of  inslructiun  in 
this  study." 

W.  T.  Hewett  : 

Cornell  Universily :  A  History. 


THE  character  and  labours  of  Ezra  Cornell  have  been  depicted 
in  full  by  one  intimately  associated  with  him  and  conversant 
with  all  his  plans  and  purposes — by  President  White.  I  shall 
not  be  so  ill-advised  as  to  try  to  add  anything  to  the  portrait.  Yet 
I  may  be  permitted  to  narrate  from  my  own  experience  a  little  in- 
cident which,  in  my  eyes  certainly,  threw  a  searching  cross-light 
upon  Mr.  Cornell's  peculiar  temper.  The  occasion  was  a  memo- 
rable night  in  October,  1871.  Then  living  down-town,  I  heard  a 
rumour,  which  no  one  seemed  wholly  able  to  verify,  that  Chicago 
ivas  biirjiing  up.  Walking  along  Tioga  street,  a  little  after  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  I  saw  a  light  in  Mr.  Cornell's  office.  The 
house  then  occupied  by  him  was  a  large  old-fashioned  double 
house  at  the  corner  of  Tioga  and  Seneca  streets  ;  the  site  is  now 
covered  by  the  Savings  Bank.  Remembering  that  Mr.  Cornell 
was  a  director  in  the  Western  Union,  I  decided  to  venture  to  apply 
to  him  for  information.  In  those  times  Ithaca  had  no  daily  news- 
paper, no  Associated  Press  agency ;  was  nothing  more  than  the  or- 
dinary country  town.  Breaking  in  upon  Mr,  Cornell  at  such  a  late 
hour  had  much  the  air  of  bearding  the  lion  in  his  den.  But  I 
made  the  venture,  rang  the  house-bell,  and  was  ushered  in  without 
ceremony.  Mr.  Cornell  was  seated  at  his  desk,  reading  what 
seemed   to  be  legal  documents.     To  my  explanation  of  the  intrii- 


38o  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

sion  he  answered  briefly,  but  with  friendliness:  "  Sit  down.  Yes, 
youno;  man,  Chicajro  is  burning  up.  No,  it's  burned  down.  The 
Western  Union  office  is  gone  witli  everything  else,  churches,  hotels, 
railroads.  The  reports  that  \vc  get  are  confused  ;  but  I  fear  we 
haven't  learned  the  worst.     It's  very,  very  bady 

All  this  in  an  even  tone,  wholly  free  from  excitement,  yet  sug- 
gesting an  emotion  that  had  no  need  of  utterance.  I  felt  awe- 
struck, as  in  the  presence  of  a  spirit  able  to  overlook  the  misery 
of  the  moment  and  forecast  the  future.  The  man  who  could 
estimate  a  Chicago  fire  with  unflinching  eye  was  not  the  man  to 
falter  in  upbuilding  a  university. 

The  question  has  been  raised  :  We  hear  much  about  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  will  no  one  tell  us  about  the  Pilgrim  Mothers?  Well, 
we  Cornellians  are  not  likely  to  overlook  the  trials  and  achieve- 
ments of  Ezra  Cornell  and  Andrew  Dickson  White.  But  has  any 
one  done  quite  justice  to  Mrs.  Cornell  and  Mrs.  White?  Yet  few 
women  known  to  me  have  been  better  fitted  by  nature  for  their 
respective  positions.  Mrs.  Cornell,  as  the  wife  of  a  great  man, 
too  rugged,  too  self-contained,  too  insistent  upon  his  high  ideals  to 
be  lavish  with  petty  suavities — Mrs.  Cornell  was  the  embodiment 
of  frankness,  kindness,  cheerful  affability,  deeply  loved  by  all 
who  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  her.  In  her  society  one  was 
comforted  into  forgetting  the  bufifets  of  life,  even  faculty  jangles 
and  freshman  French,  and  chaffing  and  laughing  with  the  unre- 
straint of  the  home-circle.  When,  in  1890,  I  returned  to  Cornell 
after  a  separation  of  eighteen  years,  and  saw  Mrs.  Cornell  once 
more  in  her  honie  and  received  her  almost  motherly  welcome 
back,  the  years  seemed  to  be  obliterated  and  I  was  young  again. 
The  quiet  unobtrusive  daily  services  rendered  by  Mrs.  Cornell  in 
establishing  the  university,  we  "aborigines"  know  and  still  better 
feel,  although  we  may  not  be  able  to  set  them  forth  in  words. 

And  what  I  have  said  of  Mrs.  Cornell  I  may  say  also  of  Mrs. 
White,  though  with  a  difference.  The  wife  of  our  first  president 
did  not  recline  upon  a  bed  of  roses.  Let  ns  not  blink  the  fact, 
the  early  years  of  the  University  were  years  of  storm  and  stress. 
Nothing  had  got  beyond  the  experimental  stage.  No  professor 
had  had  time  to  adjust  himself  comfortably  to  his  colleagues  or  to 
his  president.  The  original  faculty,  we  should  never  forget,  was 
gathered  from  north,  south,  east,  and  west,  strangers  to  each  other. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  381 

little  more  than  strangers  to  the  president  who  had  appointed 
them.  There  was  no  tradition  of  discipline  or  of  edncation. 
Every  man  had  his  own  views,  and  the  president's  miglit  rnn 
connter  to  them  all.  Natnrally  there  was  confnsion,  perplexity, 
hasty  action  followed  by  repentance  at  leisnre,  or — at  the  best — a 
pretty  lot  of  ironical  blunders.  Throngh  this  tangle  of  jarring 
elements  Mrs.  White  moved  with  a  serenity  that  nothing  seemed 
able  to  distnrb.  ]\Iy  recollection  of  her,  as  clear  as  if  it  were 
fashioned  only  yesterday,  is  that  of  a  woman  no  longer  yonng 
thongh  not  yet  in  middle-age,  a  lady  of  distingnished  presence, 
most  refined  in  manner,  cultnred  in  speech,  endowed  with  a 
memory  that  never  forgot  names  or  faces,  and  with  a  tact  that 
never  failed.  Her  mission  it  was  to  make  every  professor  and 
instructor  feel  the  touch  of  that  mysterious  gift — urbanity  ;  to  say 
and  do  the  right  thing  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way. 
One  learned  from  Mrs.  White  how  not  to  be  hasty  or  rough  or 
fretful,  in  brief,  the  virtue  of  self-restraint. 

A  word  or  two  upon  the  faculty  as  it  was  in  1868-72.  Numbering 
between  twenty  and  tliirty,  it  was  made  up  almost  wholly  of  young 
men.  The  president  was  considerably  under  forty.  Only  three  pro- 
fessors were  over  forty  :  Evans  (Mathematics),  Wilson  (Philosophy), 
Russel  (French  and  History).  The  others  were  about  or  perhaps 
a  trifle  under  thirty.  Were  I  forced  to  sum  up  the  characteristics 
of  this  faculty  in  a  single  epithet,  I  should  use  the  old-fashioned 
word  "  bumptious."  Every  man  was  ready  to  fight  and  die  for  his 
own  belief,  but  with  a  certain  sub-consciousness  that  the  other  man 
might  perhaps  be  right  after  all.  Faculty  meetings  were  not  con- 
ducted according  to  parliamentary  rules,  answers  were  shorter  and 
sharper  than  now,  there  was  a  keener  desire  to  get  at  facts  and  waive 
formalities.  The  debater  must  be  ready  for  something  of  a  rough- 
and-tumble,  there  was  no  time  for  posing.  Yet,  in  spite  of  its 
crudities  and  blunderings,  life  was  very  pleasant.  One  learned  to 
know  one's  colleagues  far  more  intimatelv  than  is  possible  now  ; 
one  was  not  lost  in  an  army  of  colleges,  departments,  instructors, 
assistants  ;  the  individual  counted  for  more.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  teacher  knew  his  students  better.  There  were  scarcely  any 
barriers  between  student  and  professor,  and  intercourse  was  frank 
to  a  degree  which  to-day  would  be  inconceivable.  Among  my 
pleasantest  memories  is  that  of  the  freedom   with   which  some  of 


Ei)c  jfouutirr  auti  iC>rigiual  j/aculuj  of  vHoruell 


EZRA  CORNEI.I 


ANDREW  UICKSON  WHITE 


THEODORi:   VV.  DWIGHT 
WILI.AKD  KISKE 
EVAN  W.   EVANS 
WILLIAM  C.  CLEVELAND 
HURT  (,.   WILDER 
JOSEPH   H.   WHITTLESEY 
LEWIS  SPAULDING 
JAMES  LAW 
ELI  W.  BLAl<« 


CHARLES  KRKD  HARTT 
I  (nnS  A(iASSi/. 
(UiORC.E  C.  CALDWELL 
JAMES  M.  HART 
HOMER   M.  SPKA(;rE 
ZIHA   H.  I'OTTKR 
JOHN   L.  MOKKLS 
WILLIAM    D.  WILSON 
WILLIAM  C.  RUSSEL 


GOLDWIN  SMITH 

JAMES  Rl'SSELL  LOWELL 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS 

JAMES  M.  CRAFTS 

T.  FREDERICK  CRANE 

ALBERT  N.  PRENTISS 

ALBERT  S.  WHEELER 

JOHN  STANTON  GOULD 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  383 

my  students  would  tell  me  all  sorts  of  things  about  themselves 
and  their  fellows,  as  if  they  were  talking,  not  to  a  professor,  but 
to  an  elder  brother.  And,  indeed,  I  was  not  much  older  than 
some  of  them.  This  freedom  had  in  it  nothing  of  the  tell-tale. 
On  the  contrary,  it  s])rang  from  a  well-founded  confidence  that 
what  was  told  thus  in  private  would  never  get  any  farther. 

One  more  professorial  trait  I  may  record.  Although  we  were 
all  intimates  and — official  differences  of  opinion  apart — the  best 
of  friends,  still  there  were  wheels  within  wheels.  In  one  of  these 
inner  circles,  numbering  perhaps  half  a  dozen,  the  custom  estab- 
lished itself  of  our  addressing  each  other  as  Brother.  The  trait  is 
worth  noting  as  an  additional  evidence  of  youthful  exuberance. 

The  most  abiding  impression  made  upon  me  by  the  faculty 
collectively  was  that  of  alertness  and  enterprise,  what  now  goes 
by  the  slang  term  of  "  push  ";  the  Germans  call  it  more  hand- 
somely Strebsa))ikeit.  These  young  professors,  whatever  they 
might  have  already  accomplished,  were  bent  upon  doing  more 
and  better.  Their  attitude  was  that  of  reaching  out  into  the 
future.  And,  at  the  risk  of  appearing  invidious,  I  may  add  that 
some  of  them  bore  the  hall-mark  of  genius.  Notably  three : 
Cleveland,  the  professor  of  engineering,  cut  off  in  1873  ^"  ^^^^ 
very  flower  of  young  promise  ;  C.  F.  Hartt,  professor  of  geology, 
who  lived  a  few  years  longer,  long  enough  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  the  survey  of  Brazil  ;  and  Crafts,  professor  of  chemistry,  who 
still  lives,  full  of  honors,  in  his  native  Boston.  To  these  three  I 
am  tempted  to  add  a  fourth,  Willard  Fiske,  librarian  and  professor 
of  German,  who,  if  he  had  not  precisely  the  originality  of  insight 
of  the  others,  was  a  marvel  of  book-lore  and  book-collecting  ,  witness 
his  unrivalled  Dante-Petrarch-Icelandic  collections  in  our  library. 

The  memory  of  such  chosen  spirits  hovering  before  me,  I  may 
be  pardoned  for  lapsing  into  the  tone  of  the  laudator  temporis  acti. 

[lU^USTRATION   ON   OPPOSITE   PAGE.] 

THE  FOUNDER  AND  THE  ORIGINAL  FACULTY. 

FROM   THE   TWENTY-FIVE   YEAR   BOOK,   1S93. 

These  photographs  of  the  Founder  and  the  original  Faculty  of  Cornell  Univer- 
sity were  taken  (with  the  exception  of  those  forming  the  topino-^t  row  in  the  pic- 
ture) by  Purdy  and  Frear,  at  Ithaca,  in  the  first  year  of  the  University,  and  were 
thus  grouped  by  them.  The  photograph  of  Professor  Agassiz  used  in  the  group 
was  from  a  painting,  and  is  here  replaced  by  one  more  satisfactory. 


384 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


THE  TEN  LECTURERS. 

BY    PROFESSOR    GOLDWIN   SMITH. 

"  Professor  Smith  entered  at  once  into  our  plans  heartily  .  .  .  came  to  us  .  .  . 
lived  with  us,  .  .  .  lectured  for  us  yewr  after  year  as  brilliantly  as  he  had  ever 
lectured  at  Oxford,  gave  his  library  to  the  University,  .  .  .  and  .<-teadily  refused 
.  .  .  to  accept  a  dollar  of  compensation.  Nothing  ever  ga\e  Mr.  Cornell  more 
encouragement  than  this  ;  for  "  Goldwin,"  as  he  called  him  in  his  Quaker  way, 
there  was  always  a  very  warm  corner  in  his  heart."  Andrew  D.   White. 

f  HAVE  survived  foiir.sncces.sors 
in  in\'  Cliair  of  History  at  Ox- 
ford, and  I  am  afraid  all  iny  fellow- 
lecturers  at  Cornell.  Two  or  three 
of  my  fellow-lecturers  I  did  not 
meet.  Of  those  whom  I  did  meet 
my  memory  grows  faint.  On  my 
arrival  at  Cornell  I  found  Agassiz 
giving  his  course,  and  I  had  the 
great  pleasure  of  his  society  for 
a  fortnight,  during  which  we  were 
both  stopping  at  the  Clinton 
House.  He  was  a  charming  com- 
panion and  a  not  less  charming 
example  of  the  simplicity  of 
scientific  greatness.  Ithaca  was 
religious,  and  Agassiz  was  afraid 
that  his  science  might  hurt  its 
susceptibilities.  In  the  first  of  his 
lectures  that  I  heard  he  happened 
to  have  to  reconcile  science  with 
the  belief  in  a  universal  deluge. 
He  (lid  it  by  saying,  "Why,  when  the  Mississippi  overflows, 
what  do  we  hear?  We  hear  that  the  whole  country  is  under  water." 
One  Sunday,  returning  with  a  large  collection  of  natural  history 
which  he  was  bringing  home  from  a  pond,  he  had  the  misfortune 
to  encounter  the  ])iety  of  Itliaca  just  filing  out  of  church.  It  was 
said  that  he  never  used  a  bank,  but  spent  what  he  had  collected 
and  then  replenished  his  purse  by  going  on  another  lecturing 
tour.  He  stood  firni]\'  by  his  theory  of  the  diversity  of  species 
against  the  inrusli  of  Darwinian  evolution.      But  this  I  apprehend 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  385 

did  not  hinder  him  from  l)eint^  a  pioneer  of  science  in  his  own 
way. 

Lowell  is  a  name  well  known  to  everybod)-.  It  is  needless  to 
rehearse  his  titles  to  fame,  of  which  the  "  Bigelow  Papers," 
seriously  influencing-  public  sentiment  as  they  did,  though  in  a 
playful  way,  are  perhaps  the  greatest.  I  had  made  his  acquaint- 
ance at  the  time  of  the  war,  when  I  had  the  delight  and  benefit, 
never  to  be  forgotten,  of  being  for  some  time  the  guest  of  Eliot 
Norton,  at  Cambridge.  Lowell,  I  need  not  say,  was  a  fervent 
Unionist.  I,  too,  was  a  Unionist  and  had  come  charged  with 
greeting  and  assurance  from  the  English  friends  of  the  great  cause. 
But  I  think  he  rather  eyed  me  askance  as  a  Britisher,  taking,  as 
most  Americans  unfortunately  did,  his  notion  of  British  sentiment 
from  the  Tory  and  Secessionist  Times.  I  saw  him  again  some 
years  afterwards  in  England,  where  he  was  as  Ambassador,  per- 
fectly reconciled  to  the  Britisher  and  a  great  favorite  in  British 
drawing-rooms.  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  though  he  was  patriot 
to  the  end,  he  did  not  contract  a  slight  preference  for  the  objects 
of  his  former  aversion.  At  Cornell,  of  course,  his  lectures  were 
excellent,  but  the  delivery  was  not  so  happy.  He  seemed  a  little 
afraid  of  his  own  good  things.  This  defect  when  we  met  in 
England  he  had  overcome.  He  had  won  renown  as  an  after- 
dinner  speaker,  and  almost  vied  with  Lord  Granville,  the  happiest 
of  after-dinner  speakers,  when  I  heard  them  both  at  a  Royal 
Academy  banquet. 

The  figure  which  has  left  the  deepest  impression  on  my  mind, 
however,  was  that  of  George  William  Curtis.  Why  did  this  man 
never  get  beyond  journalism  and  the  platform  ?  Why  did  he 
not  become  a  political  leader,  a  powerful  statesman,  a  pillar  of  the 
commonwealth?  He  had  all  statesmanlike  qualifications.  He 
was  full  of  political  knowledge,  he  was  an  admirable  speaker, 
both  as  to  matter  and  manner.  In  character  he  was  the  purest 
and  most  high-minded  of  patriots.  Why  was  all  this  to  a  great 
extent  lost  to  his  country  ?  It  seems  because  he  happened  to  live 
in  a  district  in  which  the  other  party  had  the  majority.  It  is 
true  that  as  a  force  in  politics  he  was  felt  beyond  the  influence  of 
his  journal.  He  played  a  great  part  in  what  was  called  the 
Mugwump   insurrection  against    party    corruption    and    the   vile 


386  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

domination  of  the  "  Boss."  He  played  the  leading  part  in  the 
reform  of  the  Civil  Service.  But  he  was  not  to  his  country  half 
what,  if  he  had  gone  into  public  life,  he  might  have  been.  The 
extreme  localism  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  the  choice 
of  their  representatives  makes  the  Britisher  feel  that  on  one  point 
at  least  he  has  the  advantage  of  them. 

Of  the  other  Americans  on  the  list  of  lecturers  my  memories 
are  faint,  amounting  to  little  more  in  any  case  than  a  general 
recollection  of  pleasant  intercourse.  Bayard  Taylor,  whose  sub- 
ject was  German  poetry,  lectured  well.  I  need  not  say  that  he 
was  a  worshipper  of  Goethe,  even  putting  him,  I  think,  in  his 
heart  above  Shakespeare.  Dwight,  Green,  and  Gould  I  do  not 
remember  to  have  heard,  though  I  have  specially  pleasant  recol- 
lections of  personal  intercourse  with  Gould. 

James  Anthony  Fronde  and  Edward  A.  Freeman,  my  fellow- 
countrymen,  afterwards  lecturers,  showed,  I  fear,  in  their  de- 
livery lack  of  the  cultivation  of  the  graces  of  the  platform  in  which 
Americans  are  supreme.  Fronde's  language  could  never  fail  to 
charm,  nor  could  his  narrative  power.  But  as  a  historian,  neither 
accuracy  nor  impartiality  can  be  said  to  have  been  his  forte.  Im- 
partiality, indeed,  he  may  be  said  almost  to  disclaim,  so  far  as  his 
history  of  Henry  VHI  is  concerned.  His  most  fervent  admirer 
owns  that  he  set  out  with  a  polemical  purpose.  In  him  Cornell 
had  before  it  a  curious  epitome  of  the  vicissitudes  of  religious 
opinion  in  England.  Beginning  life  as  the  son  of  a  highly  ortho- 
dox Anglican  clergyman,  he  had  become  a  fervent  disciple  and 
collaborator  of  the  Romanizing  Henry  Newman.  Breaking  away 
from  Newman  when  Newman  went  over  to  Rome,  he  had  become 
a  free-thinker  and  forfeited  his  Oxford  Fellowship  by  his  writing. 
Finally  he  became  a  disciple  of  Carlyle,  and  his  writings,  like  Car- 
lyle's,  are  instinct  with  the  worship  of  force,  which  both  alike 
persuaded  themselves  was  moral. 

Though  Fronde  succeeded  Freeman  as  Professor  of  Historv  at 
Oxford,  there  was  an  almost  ludicrous  contrast  between  them. 
Freeman  lacked  Fronde's  grace  of  style  and  liveliness  of  narra- 
tion. As  a  writer  he  is  diffuse  and  somewhat  pedantic.  But  he 
was  a  profoundly  learned,  thoroughly  conscientious,  and  strictly 
accurate  historian,  perfect  master  of  his  period.     Socially,  it  must 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  387 

be  owned,  he  was  rather  grotesque.  He  was  a  Saxon  Thane 
transported  into  the  nineteentli  century,  thoroughly  kind-hearted 
but  extremely  blunt  and  brusque.  At  an  antiquarian  banquet  a 
wit  proposed  a  toast  to  him  as  "  the  man  who  was  most  familiar 
with  the  manners  of  our  rude  ancestors."  He  moreover  made  the 
mistake  of  fancying  that  in  the  society  of  Americans  he  was  con- 
forming to  the  rude  simplicity  of  Republican  manners.  His 
name  in  the  list  of  lecturers  nevertheless  does  honor  to  Cornell. 


GOLDWIN  SMITH  ON  EZRA  CORNELL. 

From  "  The  Early  Days  of  Cornell.'" 
Reprinted  by  permission. 

EZRA  CORNELL,  our  Founder,  was  a  character  more  often 
produced,  I  take  it,  in  the  American  democracy  than  in  any 
other  commonwealth.  Raised  by  his  own  industry,  intelli- 
gence, and  vigor  from  the  ranks  of  labour  to  wealth,  he  retained  the 
simplicity  of  his  early  state  and  aspired,  not  to  social  or  political 
rank,  but  to  that  of  a  great  and  beneficent  citizen.  His  first  ques- 
tion on  finding  himself  wealthy  was  how  he  could  do  most  good 
with  his  money.  He  resolved  on  founding  a  University  for  the 
special  benefit  of  poor  students.  His  idea  was  that  a  young  man 
might  support  himself  by  manual  labour  and  pursue  his  studies 
at  the  same  time.  This  proved  an  illusion.  The  experiment  was 
tried,  and  I  remember  seeing  a  notice  to  those  who  desired  employ- 
ment in  tending  masons,  but  the  result  was  a  failure.  After  all, 
we  draw  on  the  same  fund  of  nervous  energy  for  the  labour  of  the 
hand  and  for  that  of  the  brain.  Only  in  a  man  so  vigorous  as 
Ezra  Cornell  could  the  same  fund  supply  both.  A  general  invita- 
tion to  young  men  of  the  artisan  class  in  England  which  in  the 
fulness  of  his  benevolence  Ezra  Cornell  put  forth,  had  it  been 
accepted,  might  have  brought  trouble  on  his  hands. 

I  see  the  old  gentleman  in  his  familiar  buggy  or  sitting  in  the 
chair  of  state  at  Cascadilla  on  Founder's  Day.  His  figure  and  face 
bespoke  force  and  simplicity  of  character.  His  will  undoubtedly 
was  strong,  and  as  he  could  not  be  familiar  with  Universities,  it 
would  have  led  him  astray  had  there  not  been  at  his  side  the  best 


388  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

of  advisers  in  tlie  person  of  Andrew  White,  whose  self-sacrificing 
devotion  to  tlie  enterprise  for  which  lie  left  his  elegant  home  and 
his  ample  library  at  Syracuse,  with  the  salutary  influence  which 
he  exercised  over  the  Founder's  policy,  well  entitle  him  to  be 
regarded  as  our  co-founder.  In  the  early  days  I  have  no  doubt  he 
had  much  to  endure  in  the  way  of  anxiety  and  vexation  as  well  as 
in  that  of  discomfort. 

Cornell  rendered  the  most  vital  service  to  the  University  by 
locating  the  scrip  given  to  the  State  of  New  York  by  the  Federal 
Government  in  pine  lands,  while  other  States  sold  their  scrip  at 
the  market  price.  Tliat  measure,  while  it  entailed  difficulties  and 
struggles  for  a  time,  was  in  the  end  our  financial  salvation. 

Ezra  Cornell  had  been  advised  to  place  the  University  at  Syra- 
cuse on  the  ground  that  the  social  attractions  of  a  city  would  make 
it  easier  to  obtain  professors.  But  he  refused,  it  was  said,  for  the 
reason  that  he  had  once  in  his  humbler  estate  waited  all  day  long 
on  the  bridge  at  Syracuse  to  be  hired,  and  at  last  had  been  hired 
by  a  man  who  cheated  him  of  his  wages.  If  this  was  a  legend  it 
was  well  invented.  But  it  has  been  truly  said  that  there  is  no 
pleasure  more  intense  than  that  of  being  great  where  once  you 
were  little ;  and  that  pleasure  must  have  been  enjoyed  by  Ezra 
Cornell  in  a  high  degree  when  he  saw  his  University  rising  above 
the  lowly  home  of  his  early  days. 

Eminently  plain,  frugal,  and  abstemious  in  his  own  habits, 
Ezra  Cornell  would  fain  have  impressed  the  same  character  on 
the  students  of  Cornell.  If  he  saw  a  boy  smoking  he  would  go 
up  to  him  and  ask  him  if  he  had  fifty  per  cent  of  brain  power  to 
spare.  In  this  austere  opinion  he  had  on  his  side  an  eminent 
professor  at  Oxford  who  told  me  that  he  marked  a  decline  of 
brain  power  in  his  pupils,  and  that  for  it  he  blamed  the  weed. 
Perhaps  for  us  Eton  boys  who  had  nothing  like  fifty  per  cent 
brain  power  to  spare,  it  was  as  well  that  we  were  forbidden  to 
smoke.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  Ezra  would  hardly  have  smiled 
on  athletics  in  their  present  high  development.  The  fashion  had 
its  origin  in  a  social  element  to  him  quite  alien,  that  of  the 
wealthy  youth    of    the    English    Universities 

Now  Ezra  Cornell  sleeps  in  his  grave  of  honour.  His  epitaph 
in  the  Memorial  Chapel,  like  that  of  Wren  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
might  be  Circumspice. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


389 


"  Cascadilla  Place." — "The  old  pile  claims  our  veneration  as  the  cradle  of 
University  life."  From  an  early  stereoscopic  "  view,"  loaned  by  Professor  George 
L.  Burr. 

THE  FIRST  FOUNDER^S  DAY/== 


BY    SAMUEL    D.    HALLIDAY,    '"]Q>. 
Now  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

A  FEW  months  later  (after  the  opening  of  the  University),  and 
on  the  nth  of  January,  1869,  there  was  a  large  social  function. 
It  was  the  first  Founder's  Day  and  the  Founder  and  his  wife  had 
invited  a  large  number  of  guests  to  a  reception  in  the  Cascadilla 
parlors.  It  was  by  all  odds  the  greatest  and  the  most  important 
social  event  that  had  ever  occurred  in  Ithaca  up  to  that  time.  It 
was  in  fact  a  sort  of  inaugural  ball. 

A  terrible  blizzard  prevailed  that  night,  but  that  did  not 
prevent  the  assembling  of  a  very  large  company.  Not  only  was 
the  large  Cascadilla  parlor  jammed  full,  but  the  spacious  halls 
and  stairways  all  around  the  building  were  full  of  people.  A 
large  cake  with  sixty-two  tapers  all  lighted  was  presented  to  the 
Founder.  When  the  large  dining-room  was  thrown  open  there 
was  a  crush  and  everybody  seemed  to  proceed  on  the  theory  that 
"  the  Lord  helps  those  who  help  themselves."  There  were  no 
Singletons  or  Albergers  in  those  days  and  catering  had  not 
become  a  fine  art  ;  much  less  did  the  caterers  know  how  to  serve 


*(  From  Chapter  I  of  Life  at  Cornell  published   in  \.\i^  Ithaca  Daily  Journal, 
June,  1901.) 


390  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

and  take  care  of  so  large  a  crowd.  I  do  not  recall  that  there  were 
any  ices  or  ice-cream,  bnt  large  roasted  tnrkeys,  iincarved,  were 
placed  every  few  feet  along  the  many  tables.  The  refreshments 
were  very  mnch  in  the  nature  of  an  old-fashioned  New  England 
Thanksgiving  dinner.  In  time,  however,  everybody  was  served, 
but  not  with  that  ease  and  facility  with  which  even  greater  crowds 
are  taken  care  of  today.  It  seemed  as  if  everybody  in  Ithaca  was 
there,  and  in  fact,  nearly  everybody  had  been  invited.  Later  in 
the  evening  when  the  older  people  had  departed,  probably  twenty 
or  thirty  young  people  remained  and  engaged  for  a  while  in  a 
dance. 

A  few  days  thereafter  there  came  from  the  ministers  of  Ithaca 
a  joint  protest.  It  was  gotten  up  largely  by  the  Rev.  T.  F.  White 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  signed  by  some  half  a  dozen. 
They  spoke  of  their  respect  for  the  Founder  and  their  interest  in 
the  institution,  but  they  solemnly  declared  that  they  would  not 
have  honored  the  occasion  with  their  presence  if  they  had  known 
the  reception  was  "  to  wind  up  with  a  dance."  One  expression  in 
the  protest  I  distinctly  remember.  It  was  to  the  effect  that 
"  dancing  was  opposed  to  vital  godliness."  If  that  is  true,  what  a 
godless  set  of  people  we  have  gotten  to  be  in  these  later  days !  I 
think  that  every  one  of  those  ministers  is  now  dead,  but  if  they 
were  to  come  back  to  earth  and  should  look  down  upon  one 
Junior  Ball,  what  a  horrified  set  of  people  they  would  be  !  And 
they  certainly  would  be  struck  dead  if  in  that  throng  they  saw 
not  only  boys  and  girls,  not  only  young  ladies  and  young  gentle- 
men, but  also  grave,  gray-haired,  and  dignified  professors  whirling 
through  the  mazy  scene  to  the  tune  of  "  There'll  be  a  Hot  Time 
in  the  Old  Town  Tonight." 

The  protest,  however,  did  not  produce  any  serious  or  marked 
results,  except  to  revive  the  hue  and  cry  that  some  portion  of  the 
clerical  press  was  indulging  in  at  that  time,  to  wit,  that  "  Cornell 
was  a  godless  institution." 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  391 

EZRA  CORNELL'S  LETTER  TO  THE  ERA. 

(From  the  first  issue  of  the  Era,  November  28,  1S6S. ) 

Editors  of  "  The  Cornell  Era  :  " 

Gentlemen  : — In  reply  to  your  desire  for  my  views  respect- 
ing your  contemplated  enterprise  of  a  University  paper,  I  will 
say  that  such  a  sheet  conducted  in  the  interest  of  morality,  truth, 
and  industry,  as  applied  to  the  development  of  character,  man- 
hood, and  scholarship  in  the  student,  will  be  a  source  of  much 
good,  and  will  afford  much  pleasure  to  the  friends  of  education. 

I  therefore  recommend  the  enterprise  as  worthy  of  support  and 
heartily  approve  of  the  undertaking. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Ezra  Cornell. 


EZRA  CORNELL  AND  SIBLEY  COLLEGE. 

BY    PROFEvSSOR   GEORGE   S.    MOLER,  '75. 

IN  the  early  days  of  Sibley  College  the  writer  remembers  with 
what  interest  Ezra  Cornell  would  come  into  the  machine  shop 

and  watch  the  boys  at  work.  He  would  usually  perch  himself 
upon  a  high  stool  near  some  of  them  and  ask  them  questions 
about  what  they  thought  of  that  kind  of  training,  and  how  they 
liked  it.  And  so  in  that  way  he  soon  gained  the  good  will  of 
every  boy  in  the  shop  for  they  felt  that  he  was  their  friend  and 
had  an  interest  in  their  welfare. 

In  those  days  the  shop  was  in  the  square  room  in  the  extreme 
west  end  of  the  Sibley  building  and  the  number  of  machine  tools 
in  it  was  very  limited,  so  to  provide  some  lathes  and  other  ma. 
chine  tools  until  newer  ones  of  modern  types  could  be  obtained, 
j\Ir.  Cornell  brought  to  the  University  a  second  hand  lot  of  ma- 
chines, the  whole  equipment  of  an  old  machine  shop,  and  placed 
them  at  the  disposal  of  Sibley  College.  A  part  of  these  were 
either  too  massive  or  were  too  nearly  worn  out  to  be  of  much  use, 
but  Professor  John  E.  Sweet,  who  was  then  the  foreman  of  the 
shop,  put  some  of  them  in  commission  and  made  them  useful. 

Mr.  Cornell  continued  to  manifest  his  interest  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Sibley  College  by  driving  to  the  campus  quite  often,  and 
visiting  it  until  failing  health  compelled  him  to  remain  at  home. 


i^^ 


THE  CORNELL   ERA 


fllv/     I     ,T:i(I. 

fflji/ij   ,vJl(m 
rforHii    ^o   yywu 

.[fOJJBDIlb'i  to  - 

bnn  Jroqqn?.  ^o  / 


'.'.SOH1*»lUj^vieH9I3fc',"  now  Morrill  Hall.     The  first  building  erected  on  the 
campus.     From  an  early  stereoscopic  "  view,"  loaned  by  Professor  George  L.  Burr. 

EZRA^gbS8ffe&  AS  THE  FIRST  STUDENTS 

-11'  ->iHJOKKNEW  HIM. 

dU-u  .■i9cfrriorr,3-r  ,^U^  ^^U^^   lamoureux,  '74. 
qoffn  yfrlffontrr  o/fj  ojfif   -jttioo 

]fo'^.PFtt?fy?Mft&(P94fM^r<^#*t^' )^^''^  were  accordingly  of  an  adventurous  type, 
earnest,  self-centered,  determined.  rSome  came  to  work  and  they  worked  as  best 
they  could  here  while  studying.  The  influences  about  them  were  democratic  and 
f^l|>fuI/"WefMyd  t:ai'iil^fat/ ok! •Qu^k«^f' Founder  alive  then,  and  it  was  no  unusual 
^i{]l>i  Jkp  fe^eobigrfelmijjigi  jtb©  hoiysv^'it^iidiDg  over  them  like  a  fond  and  anxious 


-Joseph  C.  Hendrix,  '73. 


•  OTJ. 


ainjA^BIijIAiR  as)WE  9tndpHtsr6f  t3ie?University's  first  years  were 
gJooj  withflhorficeaMfftgrrrb  6f[iE?3raJIQornell,  I  do  not  know  that 
.Bin  aji^lioffuBcieeeiiib^canie^sufficzieiiajtlyiintiniate  with  him  to  form 
ffejooEfdot  ■je;&tfrfiafte  eiqhisrobforHctdn  ^oWe  knew  very  little  of  his 
-pciv^teJlifefaaidl  bfusiiness  a.sscDbintioinsIbeycbnd  what  was  said  of  him 
fiTDcbpiieotioyi>.'^.itJifrtlia;(fDnhda.tioli<  dfuthe: iU niversity.  What  we 
ssaxr  waGESfiltid)!,  Jgaqivt,  sLkjpl^Iireiet^ditiiaiQ-,  ^inllose  facial  lines  were 
,saijelbiboroft®iB(bpJaJsmi4e|)cyr  ^hosc  stdrniexpression  rarely  showed 
strflc'es  ofj.nnhn'htiotl.  rrJ^t,^»'erc)([w€,tor-cclncInde  that  this  snrface 

appdaiknDei(DCMii'tctflyfipdritrayed^tlieriunerriiian,!iiSisome  of  us  were 
-tpaxflandol  IdJdo^iwe-grbitxuikl^bfe  t'-ertyifaanftHMh  thertrutli.  He  had  the 
fiiardfifEJabnrts;^ndfr]Q£Brx'eibf  ihi3jScdbdhvalieqjsli:fp9-the  reflection  of 

bameoHilfeB  aiidriLa\velrifngr[shiifey'perli»aji$k7^(iit:.idkB}t  iorered  a  warm 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


393 


heart  and  tender  sympathy,  or  he  wonld  not  have  hastened  to  give 
a  part  of  liis  fortnne  to  an  institntion  of  learning  with  the  express 
understanding  that  it  slionld  provide  facilities  for  poor  stndents. 
His  own  education  was  so  limited  that  he  once  confessed  to  a 
friend  that  he  always  hesitated  to  mail  a  letter  before  submitting 
it  to  his  wife  for  correction.  He  had  worked  his  way  up  through 
)'ears  of  grinding  poverty,  and  he  knew  what  it  was  to  be  poor, 
consequently  he  must  have  had  an  active  sympathy  for  the  student 
working  his  way  through  college.  Before  his  fortnne  was  made, 
he  lived  in  a  little  red  house  in  "The  Nook  "  at  the  lower  end  of 
Fall  Creek  gorge,  where  one  room  served  as  living-room,  bed- 
room, and  kitchen,  and  the  attic  above  as  sleeping-room  for  the 
children.  (I  am  sorry  the  University  does  not  own  that  little 
house  with  its  humble  furnishings,  for  it  would  be  a  whole  course 
of  lectures  in  one  small  picture.)*  One  little  table,  only  large 
enough  for  two,  was  all  they  had  to  eat  from,  and  that  little  table, 
I  am  told,  has  been  lo^'ingly  preserved.  The  years  spent  in  "The 
Nook  "  were  years  of  privation  and  hard  work,  but  they  had  in 
them  the  making  of  a  great  fortune,  and  of  a  future  governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  In  speaking  of  them  in  later  years,  Mr. 
Cornell  said  to  one  of  his  acquaintances  that  he  had  seen  the  time 
twenty  years  before,  when  he  could  not  get  credit  in  Ithaca  for 
a  bushel  of  potatoes,  or  a  bag  of  flour.  So  great  was  his  faith  in 
the  future  of  telegraphy  that  every  cent  he  could  raise  was  put 
into  stock,  regardless  of  the  hardship  and  discredit  that  such  a 
policy  would  entail.  And  then,  when  his  foresight  was  justified 
and  his  fortnne  made,  his  first  thoughts  were  for  the  town  where 
his  credit  was  once  rated  at  less  than  the  price  of  a  bushel  of  po- 
tatoes, and  for  the  penniless  student  struggling  for  an  education. 

I  am  not  familiar  with  the  private  life  of  Ezra  Cornell,  but  I 
think  it  can  be  said  that  his  fortune  was  made  without  a  single 
trespass  upon  the  rights  and  fortunes  of  others,  which  cannot  be 
said  of  the  predatory  rich  of  a  later  period,  and  that  his  benefac- 
tions were  carried  out  with  careful  consideration  and  for  helpful 
purposes.  He  had  the  Scotch  antipathy  to  waste  and  inconsiderate 
giving,  but  he  spared  neither  himself  nor  his  fortune  where  his 
judgment  approved  the  urgings  of  his  conscience  and  sympathy. 


*See  illustration,  page  362. 


394  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

Perhaps  tio  better  illustration  could  be  given  of  what  was,  in  my 
opinion,  the  dominating  trait  of  his  character — the  desire  to  be 
helpful  to  others — than  the  following  incident  told  me  by  an  old 
lady  still  living  in  Ithaca,  who  had  it  from  Mr.  Cornell's  grandson. 
The  two,  Mr.  Cornell  and  his  grandson,  were  passengers  on  one  of 
the  Hudson  river  steamers  between  New  York  and  Albany.  There 
was  a  poor  woman  on  the  same  boat,  who  had  been  kept  pacing 
the  deck  incessantly  by  a  fretful  child.  She  seemed  to  be  com- 
pletely spent  with  fatigue  and  want  of  sleep.  When  the  little 
boy  was  put  to  bed  in  the  evening,  Mr.  Cornell  told  him  that  he 
would  be  outside  for  a  while,  and  that  he  should  go  to  sleep  and 
not  wait  for  him.  When  the  boy  woke  up  the  next  morning  he 
discovered  that  his  grandfather's  berth  had  not  been  occupied,  and 
later  on  he  learned  that  IMr.  Cornell  had  spent  the  night  walking 
up  and  down  with  the  child  so  that  the  exhausted  mother  could 
rest  and  sleep.  He  had  first  secured  the  child's  confidence,  and 
then  persuaded  the  mother  to  let  him  take  her  place  for  the  night. 
The  incident,  if  correctly  related,  gives  us  the  true  key  to  Mr. 
Cornell's  character — a  keen  human  sympathy  with  the  needs  of 
others,  and  a  desire  to  be  helpful  to  them.  He  would  never  have 
endowed  a  school  of  theology  or  philosophy,  but  a  school  of  agri- 
culture, or  manual  training,  or  domestic  economy  would  have 
appealed  to  his  sympathies  at  once. 

I  should  like  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  Ezra  Cornell's  fortune 
was  made  without  ''  hustling,"  that  he  never  swindled,  nor  robbed, 
nor  drove  any  man  out  of  business  in  gaining  it,  that  he  made  no 
offensive  nor  ostentatious  display  of  it,  that  he  never  used  it  to 
oppress  others,  that  he  was  never  ashamed  of  his  early  poverty, 
and  that  he  built  no  fences  around  his  benefactions.  He  was 
cruelly  assailed  during  the  last  years  of  his  life  for  founding  a 
"  godless  "  institution  of  learning,  but  time  has  thrown  the  mantle 
of  oblivion  over  all  that  and  has  given  us  a  better  and  wider 
appreciation  of  the  helpful  things  he  sought  to  do. 

ILLUSTRATION  ON  OPPOSITE  PAGE. 
Cornell  University  in  1872.— Krotn  the  Twenty- Hive  Year  Hook.liSqj.  This  view  is  from  near 
the  site  of  the  present  lioardman  Hall.  It  was  taken  in  May,  1S72,  and  was  distributed  by  The 
CoRNBLL  Kra  as  a  gift  to  its  subscribers.  Morrill  Hall  (then  "  Sonth  I'niversity"),  McGraw 
Hall  and  White  Hall  appear  at  the  left,  Sibley  Collene  in  the  backgronnd,  and  at  the 
right  the  temporary  wooden  building  nsed  as  a  chemical  laboratory  and  familiarly  known  for 
years  as  the  "  Old  Lab."     Sundry  farm  buildings  of  the  I'niversity  may  be  seen  behind. 


396  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  LAND  GRANT. 
MR  CORNELL'S  SERVICES. 

HV  PROKKSSOR  WATHRMAX  T.   HEWETT. 

Abridged  from    Cornell    University  ;  A    History. 
Rcf>rinted  by  Permission. 


A 


KTER  the  cliarter  of  Cornell  Uni- 
versity had  been  fornialh'  granted, 
the  difficult)'  of  realizing  any  sum 
commensurate  with  the  magnificent 
amount  of  land  received  from  the 
state  faced  the  trustees.  It  was  then 
that  the  sagacity  of  Mv.  Cornell  and 
his  great  devotion  to  the  cause  which 
he  had  espoused  were  fully  manifest- 
ed. He  surrendered  himself  and  all 
his  powers  during  the  nine  years  of  his 
life  which  remained,  to  the  one  grand 
thought  of  realizing  the  highest  possible  proceeds  from  the  sale 
of   this  land. 

During  the  year  1865,  most  of  the  Northern  States  received 
their  land  scrip,  which  was  practically  a  certificate  authorizing 
the  selection  of  the  amount  of  land  specified  in  the  scrip  from  any 
of  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States  not  mineral,  and  not  other- 
wise disposed  of.  Most  of  the  states,  in  order  to  realize  immedi- 
atelv  the  value  of  the  national  grant,  sold  the  land  scrip  issued  to 
them  in   great  blocks  to  speculators. 

The  amount  realized  from  this  sale  was  in  some  cases  as  low  as 
forty-one  cents  per  acre,  and  the  entire  amount  of  the  national 
land  grant  realized  an  average  of  $1.65  per  acre.  Mr.  Cornell 
saw  that  if  the  states  could  retain  their  lands  for  the  present  until 
the  demand  for  desirable  government  land  had  been  exhausted, 
the  price  of  the  land  must  inevital^ly  increase  in  value.  In  his 
report  of  1864,  the  Comptroller  stated  tliat  he  had  received  the 
land  scrip  of  the  State  of  New  York,  consisting  of  6,187  pieces  of 
160  acres  each,  amounting  to  990,000  acres  of  land.   In  the  course 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  397 

of  a  few  months  sales  were  made  to  the  extent  of  475  pieces,  equal 
to  76,000  acres,  at  the  rate  of  eighty-five  cents  per  acre.  The 
total  amount  received  on  all  sales  was  $64,440.  He  reported  that 
the  sales  of  the  scrip  had  almost  entirely  ceased,  in  consequence 
of  other  states  reducing  the  price.  Therefore  it  became  an  im- 
portant question  whether  the  price  should  also  be  reduced  here 
and  a  sacrifice  made  to  induce  sales,  or  the  land  be  held  as  the 
best  security  for  the  fund  until  the  sales  could  be  made  at  fair 
rates.  In  1866  the  Comptroller  reported,  "A  saleof  ioo,oooacres 
has  been  uiade  to  the  Hon.  Ezra  Cornell  for  $50,000,  for  which 
sum  he  gave  his  bond  properly  secured,  upon  the  condition  that 
all  of  the  profits  which  should  accrue  from  the  sales  of  the  land 
should  be  paid  to  Cornell  University." 

On  April  10,  i856,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  to  authorize 
and  facilitate  the  early  disposition  by  the  Comptroller  of  the  land 
scrip  donated  to  the  state.  Mr.  Cornell  made  a  contract  with  the 
people  of  the  State  which  was  sanctioned  by  the  legislature,  by 
which  he  agreed  to  purchase  all  of  the  agricultural  land  scrip  then 
in  the  possession  of  the  State.  He  promised  to  pay  thirty  cents 
per  acre  and  to  deposit  stocks  or  bonds  for  an  amount  equal  to  an 
additional  thirty  cents  per  acre,  the  estimated  market  value  of  the 
land  scrip  at  that  time.  Mr.  Cornell  also  entered  into  obligation 
at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same  instrument,  with  ample  securi- 
ty, to  locate  the  lands  with  the  scrip  thus  purchased,  in  his  own 
name,  and  to  pay  the  taxes  and  all  expenses  of  such  location,  and 
to  sell  the  land  in  twenty  years  and  to  pay  all  the  net  proceeds 
over  and  above  the  expenses  and  the  sixty  cents  an  acre  above  re- 
ferred to,  into  the  treasury  of  the  State  of  New  York.  The 
amount  originally  received  for  the  land  scrip  was  to  constitute  the 
College  Land  Scrip  Fund,  and  the  amount  realized  from  the  sale 
of  the  lauds,  over  and  above  sixty  cents  per  acre  and  the  expenses, 
was  to  constitute  a  separate  fund  to  be  called  the  Cornell  Endow- 
ment Fund,  the  income  of  which  should  be  devoted  forever  to 
Cornell  University 

The  energy  with  which  Mr.  Cornell  prosecuted  his  great  pur- 
pose, and  the  hardships  which  he  voluntarily  assumed  in  locating 
the  forest  lands  of  the  University  are  illustrated  in  a  letter  which 
he  wrote  August  24,  1866: 


398  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

"I  have  just  returned  from  a  trip  of  three  days  in  the  pineries 
of  the  Chippewa,  sleepintj  two  nights  in  such  rude  camps  as  we 
could  construct  of  pine  boughs,  by  the  application  of  half  an 
hour's  labor.  Yesterday  morning  we  were  aroused  from  our 
slumbers  by  the  howling  of  a  pack  of  wolves  of  a  dozen  or  more, 
counting  by  the  noise  and  the  varying  voices.  They  remained 
with  us  an  hour  and  then  moved  slowly  on  until  their  howl  was 
lost  in  the  distance." 

He  proceeded  with  the  location  of  the  land.  The  labor  in- 
curred in  this  vast  undertaking  for  the  good  of  the  University 
cannot  be  overestimated.  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  spend  a 
whole  summer  in  the  wilderness;  to  employ  skilful  and  experi- 
enced assistants  ;  to  encounter  great  exposure  and  fatigue  ;  and 
to  spend  large  portions  of  his  private  fortune  in  surveying, 
locating  and  paying  taxes  upon  these  lands  during  a  long  series 
of  years.  The  work  was  done  as  systematically  as  though  the 
resultant  gains  were  to  be  his  own  private  possession. 

Tlie  trustees  realized  that  Mr.  Cornell's  fortune,  large  as  it  was, 
would  be  inadequate  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  task  which  he 
had  undertaken.  The  entries  of  land  had  been  filed  in  three 
great  states,  which  afforded  the  promise  of  most  immediate  re- 
turns, viz.,  in  Wisconsin,  Michigan  and  Minnesota.  The  balance 
of  the  scrip  could  not  be  located  in  these  states  and  it  would  be 
necessary  to  select  lauds  further  west  or  in  the  southwest.  Such 
a  division  of  the  University  domain  would  render  its  efficient 
management  difficult.  College  land  scrip  had  been  selling  in  the 
two  preceding  years  for  less  than  sixty  cents  per  acre.  In  view 
of  these  facts,  the  Trustees  united  in  a  request  to  the  State  Com- 
missioners of  the  Laud  Office  to  authorize  Mr.  Cornell  to  sell  the 
balance  of  the  college  scrij)  at  not  less  than  seventy-five  cents  per 
acre,  or  to  locate  it  as  he  might  deem  best.  ]\Ir.  Cornell  was  en- 
abled to  dispose  of  all  the  remaining  land  scrip  for  $357,651, 
realizing  about   ninety-four  cents  pei  acre 

Cornell  Universit)  has  realized  an  average  of  over  seven 
dollars  per  acre  for  its  lands.  This  is  certainly  a  splendid  tribute 
to  the  vision  of  one  man. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  399 

THE  TIME  OF  TRIAL. 

LATE  PRESIDENT  CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS 

In  an  address,  ' '  Cornell  University  ;  Its  Significance  and  Its  Scope,'' 
Be  ivered  March  31,  1886. 

WHEN  the  University  was  opened,  its  possessions,  including 
the  Federal  grant  and  the  gift  of  Mr.  Cornell  amounted  to 
about  $1,100,000.  .  .  .  While  the  Trustees  and  Mr.  Cor- 
nell were  waiting  for  the  pieces  of  pine  lands  to  bring  some  return, 
the  University  had  to  live  on  its  million  of  dollars.  Large  expendi- 
tures were  made  for  buildings.  Flocks  of  students,  smitten  with 
the  liberal  ideas  of  the  institution,  thronged  its  doors  and  crowded 
its  limited  accommodations.  Numerous  professors  were  appointed 
in  a  confident  hope  that  a  sale  of  lands  would  soon  bring  relief. 
But  the  hard  times  of  ''jt^  came  on,  and  for  eight  years,  Cornell 
University,  though  the  world  knew  nothing  of  it,  was  silently 
carrying  on  a  hard  fight  against  bankruptcy.  During  that  period 
the  Trustees  were  confronted  with  this  :  either  sell  the  lands  for 
next  to  nothing,  letting  their  best  professors  go,  if  need  be,  provid- 
ed only,  the  institution  could  be  tided  over  into  the  fair  future, 
when  a  pine  tree  w^ould  be  worth  something  in  the  market,  and  the 
treasury  could  be  replenished. 

Surely,  it  was  a  heroic  fight,  more  heroic  than  the  world  has 
ever  supposed.  For,  again  and  again,  the  Trustees  with  Mr.  Cor- 
nell at  their  head,  found  no  way  of  paying  the  salaries  and  the 
other  bills,  excepting  by  plunging  their  hands  deep  into  their  own 
pockets.  At  one  time,  simply  as  individuals,  they  gave  $170,000, 
on  security  that  was  worthless  in  the  market.  At  another  time 
they  contributed  $150,000  as  an  absolute  gift,  simply  to  tide  over 
the  emergencies  of  the  hard  times.  At  length  the  resources  of 
Mr.  Cornell  gave  out,  and  after  lie  had  broken  his  fortune  in  pay- 
ing the  taxes  on  these  lands  ;  and  worse  than  all  else,  had  broken 
his  health  in  the  service  of  the  University,  and  in  his  anxiety  for 
it,  he  said  to  the  Trustees  :  "  You  must  take  this  land  off  my 
hands  for  I  can  carry  it  no  longer."  And  as  he  was  going  down 
into  his  grave,  still  burdened  with  this  great  load,  almost  his  last 
words  were,  "  Don't  give  up  my  policy.  The  lands  will  yet  be 
worth  three  millions  of  dollars." 


ANDREW  DICKSON  WHITE,  LL.D.,  L.H.D.,  D.C  L., 

<  1832 1. 

CO-FOUNDER,  FIRST    PRESIDENT   AND   BEST    FRIEND   OF  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  401 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  EZRA  CORNELL. 
PRESIDENT  WHITE'S  ESTIMATE. 

FROM    "  MV    REMINIvSCENCES    OF    EZRA    CORNELL." 

BY    ANDREW    D.    WHITE. 

Rcprivted  by  penuission. 

FOR  seveial  years  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  discuss  a  multitude  of 
questious  with  him,  and  reasonableness  was  one  of  the  most 
striking  characteristics:  he  was  one  of  those  very  rare,  strong 
men  who  recognize  adequately  their  own  limitations.  True, 
when  he  had  finally  made  up  his  mind  in  a  matter  fully  within  his 
province,  he  remained  firm  ;  but  I  have  known  very  few  men, 
wealthy,  strong,  successful,  as  he  was,  so  free  from  the  fault  of 
thinking  that,  because  they  are  good  judges  of  one  class  of  ques- 
tions, they  are  equally  good  in  all  others.  One  mark  of  an  obsti- 
nate man  is  the  announcement  of  opinions  upon  subjects  regard- 
ing which  his  experience  and  previous  training  give  him  little  or 
no  means  of  judging.  This  was  not  at  all  the  case  with  INIr.  Cor- 
nell. When  questions  arose  regarding  internal  university  man- 
agement, or  courses  of  study,  or  the  choice  of  professors,  or  plans 
for  their  accommodation,  he  was  never  quick  in  announcing  or 
tenacious  in  holding  an  opinion.  There  was  no  purse  pride  about 
him.  He  evidently  did  not  believe  that  his  success  in  building  up 
a  fortune  had  made  him  an  expert  or  judge  in  questions  to  which 

he  had  never  paid  special  attention 

There  was  in  his  bearing  a  certain  austerity  and  in  his  conver- 
sation an  abruptness  which  interfered  somewhat  with  his  popu- 
larity. A  student  once  said  to  me,  "  If  Mr.  Cornell  would  simply 
stand  upon  his  pedestal  as  our  '  Honored  Founder,'  and  let  us  hur- 
rah for  him,  that  would  please  us  mightily  ;  but,  when  he  comes 
into  the  laboratory  and  asks  us  grufidy,  '  What  are  you  wasting 
your  time  at,  now?'  we  don't  like  him  so  well."  The  fact  on 
which  this  remark  was  based  was  that  Mr.  Cornell  liked  greatly  to 
walk  quietly  through  the  laboratories  and  drafting-rooms,  to  note 
the  work.  Now  and  then,  when  he  saw  a  student  doing  some- 
thing which  especially  interested  him,  he  was  evidently  anxious, 
as  he  was  wont  to  say,  "  to  see  what  the  fellow  was  made  of,"  and 


402  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

he  would  frequently  put  some  provoking  question,  liking  nothing 
better  than  to  receive  an  equally  pithy  answer.  Of  his  kind  feel- 
ings towards  students  I  could  say  much  :  he  was  not  inclined  to 
coddle  them,  but  was  ever  ready  to  help  any  deserving  young 
man. 

Despite  his  apparent  austerity,  he  was  singularly  free  from 
harshness  in  his  judgments,  even  regarding  his  assailants.  There 
were  times  when  he  would  have  been  justified  in  outbursts  of  bit- 
terness against  those  who  attacked  him  in  ways  so  foul  and  ma- 
ligned him  in  ways  so  vile  ;  but  I  never  heard  any  bitter  reply 
from  him.  In  his  politics  there  was  never  a  drop  of  bitterness. 
Only  once  or  twice  did  I  ever  hear  him  allude  to  any  conduct 
which  displeased  him,  and  then  his  comments  were  rather  playful 
than  otherwise  :  on  one  occasion,  when  he  had  written  a  gentleman 
of  great  wealth  and  deserved  repute  as  a  philanthropist,  asking 
him  to  join  in  carrying  the  burden  of  the  land  locations,  and  had 
received  an  unfavorable  answer,  he  made  a  remark  which  seemed 

to  me  rather  harsh.     To  this  I  replied,   "  ]\Ir.  Cornell,  Mr. is 

not  at  all  in  fault ;  he  does  not  understand  the  question  as  you  do  ; 
everybody  knows  that  he  is  a  very  liberal  man."  "  O,"  said  Mr. 
Cornell,  "  it  is  easy  enough  to  be  liberal  ;  the  only  hard  part  is 
drawing  the  check." 

Of  his  intellectual  characteristics,  foresight  was  the  most  re- 
markable. Of  all  the  men  in  the  country  who  had  to  do  with 
the  college  land  grant  of  1862,  he  alone  had  foreknowledge  of 
the  possibilities  involved  and  courage  to  make  them  actual. 
Clearness  of  thought  on  all  matters  to  which  he  gave  his  atten- 
tion was  another  striking  characteristic  ;  hence,  whenever  he  put 
anything  upon  paper,  it  was  lucid  and  cogent.  There  seems  at 
times  in  his  writings  some  of  the  clear,  quaint  shrewdness  so  well 
known  in  Abraham  Lincoln  ;  very  striking  examples  of  this  are 
to  be  found  in  his  legislative  speeches,  in  his  address  at  the 
opening  of  the  Universit}',  and  in  his  letters. 

Among  his  moral  characteristics,  his  truthfulness,  persistence, 
courage  and  fortitude  were  most  strongly  marked.  These  quali- 
ties made  him  a  man  of  peace.  He  regarded  life  as  too  short  to 
be  wasted  in  quarrels;  his  steady  rule  throughout  his  business 
life   was  never  to  begin  a  lawsuit  or  have  anything  to  do  with 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  403 

one,  if  it  could  be  avoided.  That  hysterical  joy  in  litigation  and 
squabble,  which  has  been  the  weakness  of  so  many  men  claiming 
to  be  strong,  and  the  especial  curse  of  so  many  American 
churches,  colleges,  universities,  and  other  public  organizations, 
had  no  place  in  his  strong,  tolerant  nature.  He  never  sought  to 
punish  the  sins  of  any  one  in  the  courts  or  to  win  the  repute  of 
an  uncompromising  fighter.  In  his  peaceful  disposition  he  was 
prompted  not  only  by  his  greatest  moral  quality  —  his  desire  to 
aid  his  fellow-men, — but  by  his  greatest  intellectual  quality — his 
foresight;  for  he  knew  well  "the  glorious  uncertainty  of  the 
law."     He  was  a  builder,  not  a  gladiator. 

There  resulted  from  these  qualities  an  equanimity  which  I 
have  never  seen  equalled.  When  his  eldest  son  had  been  elected 
to  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  State  Assembly,  and  had 
been  placed,  evidently,  on  the  way  to  the  Governor's  chair — 
afterward  attained — though  it  must  have  gratified  such  a  father, 
he  never  made  any  reference  to  it  in  my  hearing;  and,  when  the 
body  of  his  favorite  grandson,  a  most  promising  boy,  killed 
instantly  by  a  terrible  accident,  was  brought  into  his  presence, 
though  his  heart  must  have  bled,  his  calmness  seemed  almost 
superhuman. 

His  religious  ideas  were  such  as  many  excellent  people  would 
hardly  approve.  He  had  been  born  into  the  Society  of  Friends, 
and  their  quietness,  simplicity,  freedom  from  noisy  activity,  and 
devotion  to  the  public  good,  attached  him  to  them.  But  his  was 
not  a  bigoted  attachment  ;  he  went  freely  to  various  churches, 
avoiding  them  without  distinction  of  sect,  though  finally  he  settled 
into  a  steady  attendance  at  the  Unitarian  Church  in  Ithaca,  for 
the  pastor  of  which  he  conceived  a  great  respect  and  liking.  He 
was  never  inclined  to  say  much  about  religion  ;  but,  in  our  talks, 
he  was  wont  to  quote  with  approval  from  Pope's  "Universal 
Prayer  " — and  especially  the  lines, 

"  Teach  me  to  feel  another's  woe. 
To  hide  the  fault  I  see  ; 
The  mercy  I  to  others  show. 
That  mercy  show  to  me." 

On  the  mere  letter  of  Scripture  he  dwelt  little  ;  and,  while  he 
never  obtruded  opinions  that  might  shock  any  person,  and  was  as 


404  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

far  removed  as  possible  from  scofifin^^  and  irreverence,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  discriminate  between  parts  of  our  Sacred  Books  which 
he  considered  as  simply  legendary  and  parts  which  were  to  him 
pregnant  with  Eternal  Truth. 

His  religion  seemed  to  take  shape  in  a  deeply  reverent  feeling 
toward  his  Creator,  and  in  a  constant  desire  to  improve  the  con- 
dition of  his  fellow-creatures.  He  was  never  surprised  or 
troubled  by  anything  which  any  other  human  being  believed  or 
did  not  believe:  of  intolerance  he  was  utterly  incapable.  He 
sought  no  reputation  as  a  philanthropist,  cared  little  for  approval, 
and  nothing  for  applause  ;  but  I  can  say  of  him,  without  reserve, 
that,  during  all  the  years  I  knew  him,  "he  went  about  doing 
e^ood." 


EZRA  CORNELL'S  ESTIMATE  OF  ATTACKS  MADE 
UPON  HIM. 

"  Don't  make  yourself  unhappy  over  this  matter — it  will  turn 
out  to  be  a  good  thing  for  the  University  ;  I  have  long  foreseen 
that  this  attack  must  come,  but  have  feared  that  it  would  come 
after  my  death,  when  the  facts  would  be  forgotten,  and  the  trans- 
actions little  understood  :  I  am  glad  that  the  charges  are  made 
now,  while  I  am  here  to  answer  them." 

—  Quoted  by  Andrew   D.  White  in   his  "  Reminiscences  of  Ezra 
CornelL'''' 


EZRA   CORNELL. 

REV.  RUFUS  P.  STKBBINS,  D.D. 
MEMORIAL    ADDRESS,    FOUNDER'S    DAY,    JANUARY   II,   1 875. 

His  character,  not  his  wealth,  made  him  great.  His  wealth  only 
enabled  him  to  reveal  the  greatness  of  his  character.  He  made 
wealth  worth,  and  riches  righteousness.  He  redeemed  money- 
getting  from  greed,  and  its  use  from  prodigality  and  vanity.  His 
wealth  served  him  ;  he  never  became  its  servant.  The  poorest  need 
not  despair,  for  he  was  one  of  them  and  attained.  The  richest  need 
not  be  proud,  for  he  was  one  of  them  and  was  humble. 


Pl^^^^^l^                    11 

^Hj^'*^ 

^'  '^^^       fll 

^P^ 

■iiiiiiiiiiiHiiM'iiI                            l^H 

Q^^^l 

^^^^^^^P 

^          '^MSSSS^ 

^^^^^^^^H 

B^^j  i'   ^ 

E^           *  -- 1^         ^^^w^^ 

^^^^^^H 

B^^J^^H 

■  A 

^^^H 

u 

B 

EZRA  CORNELL. 

JANUARY   n,  t807-DECEMBER   9,1874. 
His  last  photograph,  taken  in  the  early  summer  of  1S74,  at  the  request  of  some 
of  the  students.     Mr.  Cornell's  family  did  not  know  of  it  until  aft«  r  his   death  in 
December.     Original  in  possession  of  Mary  E.  Cornell,  Ithica. 


4o6  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

FOUNDER'S  HYMN. 

BY    JUDGE    FRANCIS    MILES    FINCH. 

The  "  Chimes  "  are  still.     Alone., 

As  falls  the  year's  last  leaf 
The  great  belVs  tnonotone 

Sloiv  hymns  our  helpless  grief. 
Boicntiful  heart  !  bountiful  hand  / 

Bountiful  heart  and  hand  / 
O I  Father  and  Founder  !    O  !   Soul  so  gravid  ! 
Farewell.,  Cornell !    Farewell ! 

From  Slander'' s  driving  sleet., 
Fro7n  Envy'' s  pitiless  rain., 
At  rest.,  the  aching  feet  ! 
At  rest.,  the  weary  brain  I 
Laboring  Jieart  !  laboring  hand  ! 

Laboring  heart  and  hand  ! 
Of  Father  and  Founder  !   O!  Soul  so  grand ! 
Farewell.,  Cornell !  Farewell! 

So  calm.,  and  grave.,  and  still., 

Men  thought  his  silence  pride., 
Nor  guessed  the  truth.,  until 
DeatJi  told  it — as  lie  died. 
Lowly  of  heart .'  lowly  of  hand  ! 

Lowly  of  heart  and  hand  ! 
O I  Father  and  Founder  !   O I  Soul  so  grand  ! 
Fareivell.,  Cornell !  I^\irewell  I 

"  Trjie  ",  as  the  steel  to  star  ; 
With  eye  u  'hose  lifted  lid 
Let  in  all  Truth — though  far 
1 71  clouds  and  darkness  hid. 
Confdetit  heart  f  confdefit  liand  ! 

Confident  heart  and  hand  ! 
O  .'  Father  and  Founder  !   O .'  Soul  so  grand  ! 
Farewell.,  Cornell!  Farewell  ! 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  407 

"  Firm  ",  as  the  oak's  tough  grain^ 
Yet  pliant  to  the  prayer 
Of  Poverty^  or  Pain^ 
As  leaf  to  troubled  air. 
Kindliest  heart  !  kindliest  hand  ! 

Kindliest  heart  and  hand  / 
O  !  Father  and  Founder  !   O  !  Soul  so  grand! 
Farewell^  Cornell !  Fareivell ! 

Untaught, — and  yet  he  drew 

Best  learning  out  of  life ^ 
More  than  the  Scholars  knew., 
With  all  their  toil  and  strife. 
Conquering  heart  !  conquering  hand! 

Conquering  heart  and  hand  ! 
O  !  Father  and  Founder  !   O  !  Soul  so  grand  ! 
Farewell.,  Cornell!  Fareivell ! 

The  spires  that  cj^oivn  the  hill., 

To  plainest  labor  free., 
Where  all  may  win  who  will., — 
His  monument  shall  be  ! 
Generous  heart  !  generous  hand! 

Generous  heart  and  hand  ! 
O  !  Father  and  Founder  !   O  !  Soul  so  grand! 
Farewell.,  Cornell!  Farewell! 

Brave.,  kindly  heart.,  adieu! 

But  with  us  live  alzvay 
The  patient  face  we  knew.. 
And  this  memorial  day. 
Bountiful  heart  !  bountiful  hand  ! 

Bountiful  heart  and  hand  ! 
O!  Father  and  Founder  !   O!  Soul  so  grand  ! 
Farewell,  Cornell!  Farewell! 


4o8 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


JUDGE    FINCH'S    REMINISCENCES    OF 
EZRA  CORNELL. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    AN    ADDRESS    ON    THE    LIFE    AND    SERVICES    OF 

EZRA  CORNELL,  DELIVERED  ON  FOUNDER'S    DAY, 

JANl'ARV     IITII,    1887. 

Reprinted  by  Permission. 


"  From  the  first  he  had  been  the  counselor  of 
the  Founder  and  had  shared  with  him  his  hopes, 
and  borne  with  him  his  trials.  He  was  closely 
united  bj-  ties  of  college  and  fraternity  with  the 
first  president.  He  was  the  friend  of  the  second 
founder.  From  the  first  coEception  of  the 
University  to  this  day  he  has  been  intimately  in 
touch  with  its  growth  and  progress." 

— E.  W.  HUFFCUT. 


I  HAVE  come  among  you  to-day  from  a  sense  of  duty  which  I 
found  it  impossible  to  resist.     Since  it   was   my  fortune   to   be 

one  of  those  who  watched  at  the  cradle  of  the  University, — 
sometimes  when  the  nights  were  dark,  and  enemies  gathered  and 
danger  approached  in  the  shadows, — and  to  stand  by  the  side  of 
the  Founder,  giving  such  help  as  occasion  permitted  or  anxiety 
prompted,  it  .seems  appropriate  that  those  memories  of  his  life 
which  I  may  have  unconsciously  stored  away,  whether  familiar 
to  the  many  or  known  only  to  the  few,  should  have  the  repeti- 
tion of  this  memorial  occasion,  or  the  preservation  of  such  record 
as  it  is  )'et  possible  to  make. 

However  vain  the  wish,  one  cannot  repress  a  longing  that 
events  might  have  been  so  ordained  as  to  have  given  to  his  open 
and  observant  eyes  a  view  of  what  has  already  been  accomplished 
in  the  upbuilding  of  this  University  whose  completion  and  suc- 
cess became  the  dominant  purpose  of  his  life.  Doubtless,  some 
such  wish  was  often  his.     Once  at  least  I  traced  its  presence  in  an 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  409 

expression  of  momentary  regret.  I  remember  riding  with  him 
over  these  hills  when  bnt  a  single  bnilding  was  slowly  rising, 
and  our  way  led  through  tangled  grass,  over  uneven  ground, 
amid  the  stone  and  timbers  of  construction,  and  when,  after  some 
moments  of  silence,  with  a  patient  and  far-off  look  in  his  eyes,  he 
said  that  I  was  more  fortunate  than  he,  since  I  might  reasonably 
expect  to  see  how  the  scene  would  look  after  the  changes  of 
twenty-five  years,  while  for  him  there  was  no  such  hope.  Less 
than  that  quarter-century  has  gone  and  I  can  see  the  change  ; 
but  I  am  sure  that  he  saw  it  then.  In  that  niomentof  thoughtful 
silence  every  building  took  its  appointed  place,  and  he  counted 
them  already  by  the  score,    and   voices   and    footsteps    broke    the 

stillness  in  the  fields One  can  almost   see    the  hope  and 

the  purpose  shining  out  of  his  young  eyes  as  he  stood  upon  this 
very  hill,  after  a  long  day's  walk  from  the  parental  roof,  and 
looked  down  upon  the  village  that  was  to  be  his  future  home.  .  .  . 
I  have  sketched  one  side  of  our  Founder's  character.  If  I  left 
it  here  you  would  see  him  imperfectly,  as  many  saw  him  in  his 
life  ;  a  tall,  strong  man  with  a  grave  stern  face,  reticent,  and 
almost  cold  in  his  manner,  looking  at  you  with  eyes  of  deliberate 
blue,  steady  beneath  a  brow  unfurrowed  and  framed  in  by  the 
gathering  gray  of  hair  as  determined  as  his  will.  To  a  stranger, 
sometimes  he  seemed  hard  and  repellant,  likely  to  be  proud,  or  to 
deal  out  rebuke  with  savage  force.  That  was  not  in  the  least  the 
man.  No  kinder  heart  than  his  ever  beat,  and  it  made  him  tender 
to  distress  and  generous  beyond  measure ;  not  merely  on  a  large 
scale  and  in  the  public  eye,  but  silently  and  in  the  shadow  of  his 
daily  and  private  life.  To  relieve  suffering,  to  lighten  the 
burdens  of  poverty,  to  open  the  way  to  despairing  effort,  to  in- 
stinctively find  the  need  that  pride  concealed,  to  fill  his  days  full 
of  kindness  and  charity,  was  as  natural  to  him  as  for  the  flowers 
to  bloom  or  the  corn  to  ripen.  .  .  .  While  writing  these  words  an 
incident,  unknown  to  me  before,  has  been  communicated  by  one 
whom  many  in  this  assemblage  will  remember  with  an  esteem 
and  regard  as  lasting  as  my  own — the  Reverend  Doctor  Torrey, 
who  in  the  early  days  of  the  University  was  resident  here  as 
Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  He  had  been  preaching 
to  his  conofreeation,  amone  whom  the   Founder  was  an   attentive 


4IO  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

listener,  upon  the  duty  of  aiding  young  men  of  slender  means  who 
desired  to  enter  the  Ministry  to  secure  the  necessary  and  adequate 
education,  and  quoted  the  remark  which  happened  to  linger  in 
his  memory  that  "  these  were  Poverty's  jewels,  taken  in  the  rough 
and  polished  for  the  crown  of  Christ."  At  the  close  of  the 
sermon  a  collection  was  had  for  the  benefit  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation of  the  Church  and  among  the  gifts  of  money  large  and 
small  was  found  a  little  card  upon  which  and  over  his  initials  was 
penciled  in  the  Founder's  hand  :  "  Select  for  me  one  of  Poverty's 
jewels  that  it  may  be  wrought  out — the  diamond  for  the  crown  of 
Christ."  When,  after  the  selection  was  made,  he  was  told  the 
name  of  his  jewel  and  the  expense  to  be  borne  for  seven  years 
while  its  purity  and  light  were  being  slowly  developed,  he  simply 
said  in  his  brief,  terse  way,  "  Right  ;  I  agree  to  that  ; "  and 
silently  fulfilled  the  promise  till  the  need  of  it  ended.  For  any 
young  man  struggling  to  obtain  an  education  his  heart  beat 
warmly  and  his  help  was  never  withheld. 

No  man  was  firmer  in  his  friendships.  His  confidence  once 
given  was  never  withdrawn  until  hopelessly  betrayed.  Long 
after  selfishness  and  greed  had  grown  visible  to  other  eyes  they 
were  unseen  by  him  or  softened  by  charitable  interpretation, 
and  he  resented  a  suspicion  of  his  friends  as  a  personal  injury  to 
himself. 

But  among  the  Founder's  traits,  what  to  me  was  the  strangest 
of  all  in  so  strong  and  earnest  a  nature  was  his  serene  patience 
and  forgiving  temper  under  persistent  and  bitter  falsehood,  de- 
structive and  stinging  slander,  and  a  jealousy  recklfess  of  the  truth. 

.  .  .  We  who  know  that  his  fortune  was  lessened  and  perilled  by 
the  demands  of  the  burden  he  had  assumed  have  little  need  at  this 
day  of  speaking  in  his  defence  ;  and  yet  before  my  own  lips  are 
sealed  and  I  follow  him  into  the  dark  which  I  hope  but  borders 
the  light,  I  desire  to  say  one  thing  with  all  the  force  and  weight 
which  it  is  possible  for  me  to  command.  Day  by  day  and  almost 
hour  by  hour  I  became  familiar  with  all  that  he  planned  and  all 
that  he  did  in  the  management  of  his  self-imposed  trust.  None 
of  his  accounts  or  of  his  correspondence  with  his  chosen  agents 
were  withheld  from  my  scrutiny,  and  if  ever  man  had  a  full  and 
complete  opportunity  to  find  and  know  the   uttermost  truth,  that 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  411 

opportunity  was  mine  :  and  I  am  glad  to  declare  that  never,  in 
word  or  deed,  in  act  or  intention,  did  I  discover  the  least  faint 
trace  of  a  selfish  purpose,  or  a  shadow  of  a  personal  benefit  sought 
or  gained.  Thoroughly  and  absolutely  pure  and  without  alloy 
was  the  true  gold  of  his  nature  and  his  life. 

But  the  time  came  when  the  Founder's  work  was  ended. 
There  came  at  last  the  hardest  trial  of  all,  to  unl')ose  his  hold 
upon  the  helm  and  commit  the  wheel  to  other  hands.  That  he 
did  it  sadly,  reluctantly,  and  with  pain  is  almost  true,  but  he  did 
it  patiently  and  with  unhesitating  trust  in  his  children  and  his 
friends.  I  recollect  the  shiver  and  the  chill  with  which  I  became 
conscious  of  the  first  surrender.  With  one  of  his  sons  we  were 
seeking  safety  from  a  menacing  danger,  and  searching  anxiously 
for  a  rift  in  the  cloud  or  a  light  in  the  dense  darkness,  and  he, 
folding  his  hands  upon  the  table  and  laying  his  head  upon  them 
said  only — "  You  must  do  the  best  that  you  can  :  I  am  not  well !  " 
— The  words  were  simple,  but  how  much  they  cost  him  we  shall 
never  know.  From  that  time  on,  he  grew  steadily  weaker,  yet  his 
patience  and  placid  resignation  continued  to  the  end.  It  was  my 
privilege  with  the  aid  of  the  Trustees,  who  generously  lent  their 
own  means  to  the  emergency  until  the  land  securities  could  come 
into  effective  use,  and  with  the  first  Treasurer  of  the  University, 
to  place  in  the  Founder's  hands  as  he  sat  in  his  sick  room,  every 
bond  he  had  given  the  State,  every  obligation  it  held  against  him, 
and  assure  him  that  all  his  promises  were  fully  and  exactly  ful- 
filled. He  went  to  his  death  with  his  benevolent  and  marvellous 
Trust  accomplished  and  complete. 

I  have  thought  that  the  duty  which  I  owed  to  this  occasion  was 
not  at  all  an  effort  of  logic  or  of  learning,  if  such  were  within  my 
power ;  not  even  a  defence  of  the  New  Education  or  a  study  of 
your  relations  to  it,  however  I  might  love  to  break  a  lance  in  the 
fray  ;  but  an  effort  to  paint  the  Founder  as  I  knew  him  in  his  life, 
in  outlines  accurate  and  true,  and  in  colors  as  vivid  as  I  could  find 
surviving  among  the  dull  browns  of  daily  toil  ;  in  order  that  you 
who  knew  him  not,  who  have  come  later  upon  the  scene,  may 
interweave  among  your  younger  labors  and  fresher  ambitions  the 
face  and  the  step  of  the  grave  but  kindly  man  who  made  your 
places  and   purposes  possible  ;  and  in   the  hope   that   the  story  of 


412 


11  IE  CORNELL  ERA 


his  life  may  be  handed  down  from  one  to  another  and  never  for  a 
day  be  forgotten.  I  trust  that  tlirough  all  vicissitudes  and 
changes,  however  the  New  may  supersede  the  Old,  and  Time  and 
Death  blur  or  efface  the  Past,  there  may  yet  remain,  as  the  center 
of  every  aim  and  ambition,  as  the  stimulus  to  ever)-  useful  efTort, 
as  the  atmosphere  of  the  University,  the  memory  of  Ezra  Cornell. 


ANECDOTES  OF  EZRA  CORNELL. 


BY    MRS.  ALONZO    B.  CORNELL. 


Thk  Old  Cornei-i^  Mansion. — This  house  was  situated  at  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Tioga  and  Seneca  streets,  where  the  Ithaca  Savings  Bank  now  stands  In 
it  Ezra  Cornell  lived  during  the  early  years  of  the  University,  and  in  it  he  died, 
December  9,  1874.  From  an  old  stereoscopic  "  view,  "  in  possession  of  Mrs.  Alonzo 
B.  Cornell,  Ithaca. 


About  1865,  while  the  Cornell  iM'ee  Public  Library  was  being 
built,  Ezra  Cornell  was  one  day  sitting  in  the  house  which  then 
stood  opposite,  looking  out  of  the  drawing-room  window  and 
watching  the  progress  of  the  new  building.      His  little  three-year 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  413 

old  grandson,  Edwin,  the  youngest  son  of  Governor  Cornell,  was 
on  his  knee,  prattling  about  the  long  ladder  that  reached  from  the 
sidewalk  to  the  roof  of  the  tower,  and  wondering  how  the  masons 
could  carry  the  plaster  so  far  on  their  backs.  His  grandfather 
said,  "  Would  you  like  to  go  up  that  ladder,  Eddie,  and  see  what 
they  are  doing?"  The  little  boy  was  delighted,  so  his  coat  and 
cap  were  quickly  put  on  and  up  the  ladder  they  went,  Ezra  Cor- 
nell placing  Eddie's  little  feet  on  each  round  before  him.  They 
climbed  in  this  way  to  the  top,  looked  around  for  a  few  minutes 
and  then  returned  round  by  round.  "  When  you  are  old  enough 
you  will  climb  the  ladder  of  learning  step  by  step,  my  little  man, 
and  grow  to  be  great  and  good,"  said  the  grandfather.  "  This 
building  is  for  little  boys  and  girls  as  well  as  grown  men  and  wo- 
men." Just  then  a  little  colored  boy  ran  by,  and  Eddie  said, 
"  Grandpa,  is  the  building  for  colored  boys,  too?  "  "  Yes,  yes,  for 
colored  boys,  too — for  all." 

In  one  of  the  debates  in  the  State  Senate,  after  Ezra  Cornell 
had  founded  and  endowed  Cornell  University,  a  speech  was  made 
by  a  man  from  Havana  regarding  the  alleged  "  land  grab  "  that 
Mr.  Cornell  was  making  in  order  to  enrich  himself  and  family. 
Ezra  Cornell  asked  for  a  committee  to  investigate  his  actions. 
The  committee  was  appointed  ;  Governor  Seymour,  one  of  its 
members,  said  he  was  ashamed  to  be  called  to  such  a  proceeding. 
The  subject  came  up  one  afternoon  while  Mr.  Cornell  was  at  his 
home,  and  my  sister  and  I  were  in  the  room.  During  the  conversa- 
tion he  was  silent  for  some  time  and  we  could  see  that  he  was 
under  severe  emotional  strain,  until  presently  his  eyes  filled  with 
tears  which  rolled  down  his  face.  "Girls,"  he  said,  "I  am 
willing  to  abide  my  time — perfectly  willing  to  abide  my  time." 


414  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

REMINISCENCES  OF  EZRA  CORNELL= 

\\\    PROFESSOR    BURT   G.    WILDER 


"For  the  professorship  in  this  department 
Professor  Agassiz  had  recommended  to  me  Dr. 
Burt  Wilder  ;  and  I  soon  found  him,  as  Agassiz 
had  foretold,  not  only  a  thorough  investigator, 
but  an  admirable  teacher." 

Andrew  D.  White, 

Autobiography . 


WITH  liis  notification  of  my  appointment,  under  date  of 
October  7,  1867,  Andrew  D.  White,  then  jnst  elected 
president  of  Cornell  University,  inclosed  an  invitation  to 
visit  him  in  Syracuse  to  "talk  over"  my  department,  adding  that 
it  was  "  not  of  cast-iron."  At  Dr.  White's,  November  8,  I  met  Hon. 
Francis  M.  Finch,  later  of  the  state  appellate  court  and  Dean  of 
our  Law  School,  then  secretary  of  the  Board  and  confidential  legal 
advisor  of  Ezra  Cornell.  Judge  Finch  invited  me  to  visit  Ithaca 
and  entertained  me  from  Saturday  till  Tuesday.  Sunday  evening 
we  spent  at  his  office  in  the  Cornell  Library  Building.  Then  and 
there  I  first  met  Ezra  Cornell. 

Of  him  I  liad  previously  seen  no  picture  and  heard  no  descrip- 
tion. As  a  millionaire,  telegraph-promoter,  state  senator  and 
founder  of  a  university,  he  had  been  vaguely  prefigured  as 
aldermanic,  bustling,  loud-spoken  and  dictatorial.  How  unlike 
the  reality  !  He  reminded  me  at  once  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  I 
had  seen  him  during  the  Civil  War.  His  features  were  finer,  but 
of  the  same  distinctively  American  type;  there  were  the  angu- 
larity,   the   height,    the  slight  stoop,  the  quiet  manner,  and  the 


*  Based  upon  the  writer's  diaries  of  the  period. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  415 

habitual  gravity  of  expression  illiiniined  upon  occasion  by  flashes 
of  kindliness  or  humor.  His  reception  put  me  quite  at  ease,  and 
for  an  hour  we  conversed  upoii  what  was  then  uppermost  in  the 
minds  of  the  leading  men  of  Ithaca.  Learning  that  I  had  planned 
to  leave  the  next  morning,  he  said  that  if  I  would  remain  over  he 
would  take  me  to  drive  and  would  telegraph  the  cause  of  my 
detention  to  Professor  Agassiz,  for  whom  I  was  then  working. 

Promptly  at  ten  o'clock,  on  Monday,  the  nth  of  November, 
Mr.  Cornell  called  at  Judge  Finch's  office  in  his  well-known  buggy, 
which  I  remember  as  comfortable  but  far  from  new.  Until  four, 
with  an  hour  for  dinner  at  the  Clinton  House,  he  drove  me  in  and 
about  the  city.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  our  first  objective  was 
an  enormous  exposed  boulder  near  Buttermilk  Creek  at  the  base 
of  South  Hill,  presenting  glacial  grooves  of  unusual  distinctness ; 
of  this  he  gave  me  photographs  for  Professor  Agassiz.  Near  the 
Inlet  canal-boats  were  building,  and  some  Italians  were  carving 
stone  for  ]\Ir.  Cornell's  new  house.  Perhaps  the  best  exemplification 
of  the  duality  of  his  nature  was  offered  by  his  indifference  to  the 
impression  made  by  his  rather  shabby  vehicle,  horse,  and  even 
hat,  as  contrasted  with  his  genuine  and  superior  artistic  pleasure 
in  the  execution  of  carvings  for  his  projected  residence.  At 
Cascadilla  Place  he  remarked  that  it  probably  would  be  used  for 
University  purposes  after  the  creek  was  bridged. 

That  six  hours  unbroken  association  with  Ezra  Cornell  was  a 
high  privilege,  not  then  fully  appreciated.  Would  that  a  Boswell- 
ian  spirit  had  moved  me  to  record  every  honest,  kindly  and 
weighty  word.  Forty  years,  however,  has  not  effaced  the  general 
impression  of  his  goodness,  modesty  and  force  ;  of  his  rare  powers 
of  observation,  reflection  and  expression.  There  was  nothing 
coarse  or  trivial  ;  and  he  made  no  harsh  comment  upon  the  crit- 
ics and  adversaries  that  had  begun  already  to  manifest  their  jeal- 
ousy or  open  hostility. 

THE    FIRST    founder's    DAY 

On  the  evening  of  January  11,  1869,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cornell  gave 
a  reception  in  the  large  parlor  which  then  occupied  two  stones  of 


41 6  THE  CORNELL   ERA 

the  west  central  portion  of  Cascadilla  Place.  '  Despite  the  bliz- 
zard then  ragino^,  the  attendance  was  lar<(e  from  both  "  Town  and 
Gown."  Among  other  incidents  chronicled  in  the  local  papers 
was  the  presentation,  by  President  White,  of  the  prizes  offered  by 
him  for  the  best  work  in  Physiology  :-  Fifty  dollars  to  Edson 
Hamilton  Scofield  ;  twenty  to  William  Gushing  Barrett;  and  ten 
to  William  Jones  Youngs.  At  the  request  of  Mrs.  E.  G.  Putnam, 
wife  of  the  then  business-manager,  the  writer  presented  to  Mr. 
Cornell  a  large  frosted  cake,  bearing  sixty-two  lighted  candles. 
The  address  and  response  are  here  reproduced  partly  by  reason  of 
their  commendable  brevity,  but  mainly  because  the  latter  illus- 
trates Mr,  Cornell's  readiness  and  command  of  language  and  the 
former  gives  the  estimate  of  him  still  entertained  by  the  speaker  : 

"  Mr.  Cornell : — A  lady  friend  of  yours,  a  fellow-traveller,  and  I 
need  not  add  an  admirer,  wishes  me  to  make  this  birthday  offer- 
ing. A  very  giant  among  cakes,  it  typifies  your  immense  benefac- 
tions. White  as  snow,  it  is  not  purer  than  your  purposes.  F'ull 
of  the  good  things  of  this  world,  may  it  represent  your  lot  here 
and  hereafter.  And  though  the  sixty-two  tapers  now  stand  for  the 
past  of  your  life,  would  they  were  rather  the  omens  of  the  years 
to  come  in  which  you  might  live  to  reap  in  rest  and  peace  that 
which  you  have  sown  in  toil  and  strife.  Their  flame  is  surely  an 
emblem  of  the  gratitude  which  will  ever  burn  in  the  hearts  of  all 
who  have  known  Ezra  Cornell." 

Mr.  Cornell  replied  : 

"  Mr.  Professor  : — I  thank  you  for  the  very  complimentary  terms 
in  which  you  have  presented  this  handsome  gift,  which  you  say  is 
from  a  lady  friend.  In  reference  to  the  donor,  I  can  only  say,  God 
bless  the  ladies.  This  splendid  cake  surpasses  in  beauty  and  ex- 
cellence all  presents  I  have  received  from  ladies,  excepting  those 
which  have  been  presented  to  me  from  time  to  time  by  the  lady  at 
my  side,  my  good  and  beloved  wife.  I  again  thank  you  for  this 
handsome  present." 


*  This  portion  has  been  since  converted  into  suites  of  rooms  ;  it  then  corre- 
sponded nearly  with  the  present  dining  hall,  but  had  two  tiers  of  west  windows. 
For  a  fuller  account  of  this  reception  and  of  the  futile  cleric  protest  against  danc- 
ing under  University  auspice",  see  the  initial  chapter  of  "  Life  at  Cornell,"  by 
Hon.  S.  D.  Halliday,  '70,  in  the  Ithaca  Journal  for  June  4,  5,  6  and  S,  1901.  (Re- 
printed in  this  issue  of  the  Era,  page  389.) 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  4^7 

THE    MASTODON    OF    SIX-MILE    CREEK 

On  the  20tli  of  May,  187 1,  Mr.  J.  P.  Allen  bronght  me  some 
teeth,  which,  altho  much  worn  and  decayed,  were  clearly  those  of 
the  Mastodon,  an  extinct  animal  resembling  the  elephant.  He 
had  found  them  in  the  banks  of  Six-mile  Creek  near  his  home  at 
Brookton  (then  Mott's  Corners)  about  six  miles  east  from  Ithaca. 
Four  days  later  Mr.  Cornell  accompanied  a  party  comprising, 
besides  the  writer,  President  White,  Charles  Frederic  Hartt,  Pro- 
fessor of  Geology  and  Paleontology,  John  J.  Brown,  Professor  of 
Physics,  and  John  Henry  Comstock,  '74,  now  Professor  of  Ento- 
mology, then  my  very  eflficient  laboratory-assistant.  We  all  took 
a  hand  at  digging  in  the  muddy  alluvium,  and  exhumed  several 
more  teeth  and  some  bones.*  Mr.  Cornell  probably  shared  the 
cost  of  the  expedition  with  Dr.  White. 

MR.  CORNELL'S   INTEREST   IN    NATURAL    HISTORY 

He  was  interested  in  the  "Silk  Spider  of  South  Carolina"! 
and  shared  my  belief  (since  realized  elsewhere)  that  silk  drawn 
from  the  living  spider  could  be  woven  into  ornamental  or  useful 
fabrics.  He  advised  some  public  lectures  upon  the  subject  and  at 
the  first,  on  the  evening  after  the  reception  above  mentioned, 
introduced  me  to  the  Ithaca  audience  that  has  since  been  almost 
surfeited  with  lectures  upon  nearly  every  conceivable  topic.  He 
was  president  of  the  Farmer's  Club,  and  at  his  request,  June  15th, 
1870,  I  read  before  it  a  paper  on  "The  Methods  of  Improving 
Domesticated  Animals  by  Breeding."  My  diaries  record  the 
attendance  of  ^Ir.  Cornell  at  two  of  my  regular  lectures,  and  seven 
visits  to  my  laboratory.  At  one  he  brought  me  a  rare  spider.  At 
another  he  witnessed  the  removal  of  the  brain  of  a  dog.  Upon  a 
third  occasion  he  had  an  animated  discussion  with  Professor  Hartt 
upon  some  point  in  the  local  geology. 


*These,  with  other  mastodon  remains  from  Centre  Lisle,  about  twenty-five  miles 
from  Ithaca,  may  be  seen  in  the  McGraw  Museum,  south-west  corner.  A  brief 
note  upon  the  discovery  was  published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science  and 
Arts  for  July,  1871. 

tFouad  by  me  near  Charleston,  during  the  Civil  War  ;  see  "  How  My  New 
Acquaintances  Spin,"  an  illustrated  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  August, 
1866. 


41 8  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

THE    LAST   INTERVIEW 

On  the  29th  of  August,  1874,  by  appointment,  and  accompanied 
by  President  White,  Mr.  Cornell  came  to  my  laboratory  to  see  the 
dissection  of  a  cat,  with  especial  reference  to  the  location,  structure 
and  action  of  the  lungs.  F'or  some  time  his  failing  health  had 
limited  his  activity  and  alarmed  his  family  and  fellow-trustees. 
He  asked  few  questions,  but  observed  closely  and  with  evident 
concern.  I  never  saw  him  again  alive.  But  I  knew  that  he 
continued  to  labor  for  the  University  to  the  utmost  limit  of  his 
waning  strength  ;  indeed,  then  as  always,  he  worked  as  if  he  were 
making  a  fortune  instead  of  giving  one  away.  The  pathetic  end 
is  graphically  and  affectionately  described  by  Judge  Finch  in  his 
Founder's  Day  Address  of  1887. 

I  have  already  likened  Ezra  Cornell  to  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Both  would  be  instinctively  selected  as  eminently  dependable. 
With  both  there  was  the  care-worn  look  of  heavy  and  unceasing 
responsibilities.  Now,  after  the  event,  we  may  perhaps  claim  that 
each,  while  confident  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  cause  to 
which  he  was  devoting  all  his  energies,  foresaw  his  own  untimely 
fate,  yet  labored  to  the  end. 

Ezra  Cornell  was  human,  and  upon  comparatively  small  matters 
his  judgment  may  have  been  at  fault.  But  no  conviction  of  mine 
is  deeper  or  more  enduring  than  that  of  his  great  generosity,  his 
absolute  integrity,  and  his  single-minded  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  Cornell  University.  He  founded  a  common  sense  college  ;  and 
such  an  institution  constitutes  one  of  the  noblest  visible  monuments 
that  man  can  devise. 


From  the  ranks  our  Founder  great 

Rose,  and  led  the  generous  van  ; 
Helpt  the  city,  served  the  State, 

Made  the  lightning  slave  to  man. 
Cold  to  stranger,  warm  to  friends — 

Dauntless  heart,  prophetic  soul — 
Wealth  he  sought  for  noble  ends 

And  self  was  ne'er  his  jjoal. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA 


419 


Learning,  long  for  liini  delajed, 

Fain  would  he  make  free  to  all  ; 
Creed  nor  sex  his  bounty  stayed, 

Nations  answered  to  his  call. 
Patient,  tolerant  and  wise. 

Labored  he  with  failing  breath  ; 
Died,  as  every  hero  dies. 

Still  faithful  unto  death. 

Oh  Cornellians,  "  True  and  Firm  "  ! 

Note  his  motto's  grand  intent ; 
Make  his  work  of  yours  the  germ  ; 

Be  your  lives  his  monument. 
Why  he  is  to  you  endeared 

Sound  aloud  in  every  clime. 
That  his  name  may  be  revered 

Until  the  end  of  time. 


Cornell  in  1870. — The  view  is  of  Morrill  and  McGraw  Halls,  lookinj^  north 
along  the  west  front.  Note  the  cl«ick  and  chimes  in  the  tower  of  McGraw  Hall, 
■where  they  remained  for  almost  twenty  years,  until  the  present  Library  was  hudt. 
From  a  photograph  in  possession  of  Mrs.  H.  L.  Estabrook,  Ithaca. 


420  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

EZRA  CORNELL, 

BY  PROKKSSOR  CHARLES  MKLLEN  TYLER. 

J  NEVER  knew  Mr.  Cornell  intimately.  I  can  only  contribnte 
a  frao^ment  of  objective  psycliolog^y.  I  came  to  Ithaca  in 
December,  1872,  and  observed  on  the  streets  his  tall  and  lithe 
figure  ;  noted  the  abstraction  of  manner ;  sometimes  conversed 
with  him  for  a  moment  to  find  him  preoccupied  with  intense  and 
silent  purpose.  Time  enriched  my  estimation  of  his  character, 
and  now,  in  retrospect,  all  of  us  can  discern  his  moral  and  mental 
greatness,  as  his  fabric  of  purpose  has  reached  a  present  great 
fulfilment,  and  is  expanding  to  proportions  to  which  we  can  set 
no  limit. 

Mr.  Cornell  was  an  idealist.  Financial  success  was  never  his 
objective.  Extending  telegraph  lines  meant  not  for  him  the 
gain  of  riches,  but  the  advent  of  a  new  era  in  civilization  and 
progress.  The  arrival  of  wealth  roused  within  his  brain  dreams 
to  become  realities  for  humanity,  ideals  which  slumbering,  only 
awaited  the  coming  of  good  fortune  to  kindle  in  the  soul  an 
altruistic  fire  which  could  not  be  extinguished.  He  must  have 
been  profoundly  an  idealist  when  standing  upon  the  wind  swept 
heights  above  the  city  and  gazing  beyond  the  hills  and  down 
Cayuga  water,  he  looked  out  from  the  belvedere  of  his  imagina- 
tion and  saw  generations  coming  thither  to  seek  higher  culture. 
Henry  Clay  returning  home  from  Congress,  once  checked  his 
horse  on  a  summit  of  the  Alleghanies  and  gazed  westward  wrapt 
in  thought  and  when  asked  the  cause  of  his  abstraction  replied, 
"  I  hear  the  footsteps  of  coming  generations." 

As  the  poet  is  a  creator  and  gives  to  "airy  nothings  a  local 
habitation  and  a  name,"  Mr.  Cornell  shared  with  the  poet  the 
creative  sympathetic  imagination.  He  saw,  with  the  mind's  eye, 
stately  halls  rising  in  succession,  throngs  of  earnest  youth  moving 
along  the  corridors  and  with  confidence  prophesied  the  coming  of 
thousands.  But  it  was  not  a  sentimental  but  a  practical  sympathy, 
for  he  contemplated  methods  by  which  poor  scholars  could  work 
their  way  through  the  courses  of  instruction. 

In  power  of  imagination  and  in  unfaltering  purpose  to  cast 
ideas  into  visible  and  permanent  form,  and  in  humane  sympathy 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  421 

with  poor  young  men  eager   to   gain  an   education,    Mr.    Cornell 
must  be  classed  with  great  men. 

Cornell  University  was  a  new  conception  and  has  revolutionized 
higher  education,  and  stimulated  at  first — I  will  not  say,  jealousy — 
criticism  at  least,  on  the  part  of  the  old  colleges  of  the  land. 

It  is  just  to  say  that  Mr.  Cornell  had  a  noble  friend  and  wise 
co-adjntor  in  Ex.-Pres.  White,  whose  bold  and  wise  originality 
helped  to  give  shape  to  Air.  Cornell's  conceptions. 

As  Blucher  and  Gneisenau  were  inseparable  in  the  Prussian 
wars,  Mr.  Cornell  found  in  Mr.  White  an  able  marshal  and 
strategist. 

I  attended  Mr.  Cornell's  funeral,  in  the  house  which  then  stood 
where  now  exists  the  Ithaca  Savings  Bank.  A  large  throng^  of 
lamenting  citizens  attested  the  sense  of  the  public  loss.  Too  soon, 
the  patient,  thoughtful,  meditative,  upright  great  man  passed 
away.  I  believe  he  looks  down  from  the  serene  heights  of 
immortality,  and  beholds  the  unfolding  grandeur  of  his  ideas. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  EZRA  CORNELL. 

BY  ISAAC  P.  ROBERTS. 

AS  I  came  to  Ithaca  only  a  short  time  before  he  was  taken  ill, 
my  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Cornell  was  slight.  I  remember 
him  at  the  time  that  he  was  planning  and  working  to  make 
certain  that  the  University  should  not  in  the  future  lack  for  funds 
to  complete  the  great  task  which  he  had  begun,  the  plans  of  which 
he  had  had  in  mind  ever  since  the  first  stone  was  laid.  Never  but 
once  did  I  converse  with  Mr.  Cornell  except  as  he  was  viewing 
the  locations  for  the  proposed  buildings  which  were  to  house  the 
various  departments.  With  the  confidence  of  a  prophet  he  pointed 
first  to  one  elevation  and  then  to  another,  naming  over  one  by  one 
the  buildings  which  were  to  adorn  them  in  the  future.  In  the 
face  of  discouragements  which  would  have  appalled  most  men  he 
was  calm  and  confident,  and  in  his  far-reaching  vision  he  seemed 
to  see  these  buildings  as  really  as  he  would  now  were  he  permit- 
ted to  visit  that  rolling  plateau  which  he  always  loved  so  much. 


422  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

His  discussions  were  not  set  forth  in  the  idle  words  of  a  vision- 
ary. One  could  readily  understand  his  plans  for  the  future,  for 
they  were  expounded  with  a  dignity  and  assurance  which  could 
come  only  from  an  abiding  faith  that,  come  what  might,  the  fru- 
ition of  all  his  sacrifice  and  toil  would  follow  in  good  time,  and  the 
dream  which  he  had  dreamed  would  come  true. 

When  I  visited  him  the  last  time  he  was  reclining  on  his  couch, 
and  we  all  knew  that  the  end  was  at  hand.  He  realized  this  too, 
yet  it  was  marked  by  no  great  change — there  was  the  same  kindly 
forgiveness  for  those  who  had  done  their  utmost  to  thwart  his 
plans,  the  same  abiding  faith  in  the  successful  outcome  of  his 
life's  great  work,  the  same  peaceful  resignation  to  the  inevitable. 
He  most  of  all  must  have  wanted  to  live,  to  see  the  realization  of 
his  beneficent  conception  and  gather  the  full  fruits  of  a  life  that 
had  been  spent  in  planting.  Yet  in  all  our  conversation  there  was 
never  a  word  of  doubt.  He  seemed  like  one  who  wraps  the 
drapery  of  his  couch  about  him  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams. 

The  most  valuable  lesson  of  my  life  I  learned  from  Air.  Cornell. 
At  first  I  chafed  and  fretted  over  the  slow  progress  of  the  College 
of  Agriculture.  There  was  little  money  and  few  students,  and  the 
majority  of  educators  were  doing  what  they  could  to  discourage 
the  introduction  of  technical  training  into  the  university  curric- 
ulum. But  this  great  silent  man,  Kzra  Cornell,  made  me  realize 
that  the  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  but  to  the  patient,  hopeful,  per- 
sistent worker. 

So  when  the  prophet  nad  passed  away  I  took  the  great  lesson 
which  he  had  taught  me  to  heart,  and  by  reason  of  this  inspira- 
tion, caught  from  the  man  who  did  things  and  waited  patiently 
for  his  reward,  I  was  able  to  struggle  on  through  many  toilsome 
years,  until  at  last  I  saw  the  plans  of  our  Honored  Founder  for 
the  College  of  Agriculture  realized  beyond  our  greatest  expecta- 
tions. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  423 

THE  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF  EZRA  CORNELL^ 

BY    PROFESSOR   JAMES    LAW. 

"With  especial  gratitude  should  be 
named  Dr.  James  Law,  of  the  British 
Royal  Veterinary  College,  whom  I  had 
found  in  London  and  called  to  our 
veterinary  professorship.  Never  was 
there  a  more  happy  selection.  From 
that  day  to  this  he  has  been  a  tower 
of  strength  to  the  University,  and 
has  rendered  incalculable  services  to 
the  State  and  Nation." 

Andrew  D.  White  : 

Autobiography 

EZRA  CORNELL  was  a  noble  product  of  the  peerless 
nineteenth  century.  Never  before  had  the  spirit  of  progress 
been  so  active  and  widespread.  Never  had  Nature  been  so 
successfully  entreated  to  uncover  her  latent  powers;  never  had 
such  powers  been  so  effectively  applied  to  useful  work  for 
humanity.  New  cosmogonies,  new  physics,  new  chemistry,  new 
doctrines  of  human  rights,  had  opened  up  new  avenues  of  enter- 
prise where  capable  men  achieved  great  material  successes.  In 
the  world's  work  steam  had  superseded  wind  and  water,  had  in 
great  measure  annihilated  distance,  had  brought  widely  separated 
peoples  into  close  relations,  and  had  unprecedentedly  stimulated 
trade  and  manufacture.  Light  had  been  used  to  do  printing  and 
artistic  service,  and  the  elusive  magnetism  had  been  coerced  to 
convey  thoughts  and  speech  to  distances  with  practically  instan- 
taneous effect.  Morse  had  demonstrated  the  principle  of  the 
telegraph,  but  there  was  still  lacking  the  ingenious  and  practical 
mind  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  connection  and  isolation  over 
long  distances.  Here  the  resourceful  Ezra  Cornell  came  in  to 
introduce  practical  efficiency  and  economy  into  the  work  of  the 


424  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

great  inventor.  For  this  work,  Mr.  Cornell  had  been  adinira]:)ly 
fitted  both  by  inheritance  and  training.  Derived  from  an  ancestry 
that  sturdil}-  maintained  the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  the 
supremacv  of  the  individual  conscience  in  religion,  that  crossed 
the  ocean  and  faced  the  dangers  of  the  American  wilds  in  their 
search  for  mental  liberty,  and  while  even  there  had  to  resist  the 
persecution  of  their  brother  exiles  in  the  same  cause,  he  inherited 
that  basis  of  love  of  truth  which  is  fundamental  to  all  real 
excellence.  In  his  veins  ran  the  blood  of  tlie  shrewd,  inventive 
Connecticut  Yankee.  This  manifested  itself  in  his  own  ambition 
to  learn,  and  confidence  in  achievement,  which  made  him,  at 
twenty,  a  skilled  workman  in  a  variety  of  crafts,  and  at  thirty-six 
the  fit  helper  for  such  a  man  as  Morse. 

His  school  education  was  scanty.  His  one  lesson  in  geography, 
he  said,  was  in  giving  the  boundaries  of  the  State  of  New  York 
which  was  said  to  be  limited  on  the  West  by  "  the  Jinknoivn 
regions^  P>ut  if  tlie  school  instruction  failed  him,  he  was  a 
voracious  reader,  devouring  every  technical  book  available,  and, 
with  his  extraordinary  aptitude,  acquiring  much  knowledge  and 
skill  in  many  different  fields.  Then  his  practical  training  was 
strangely  varied.  He  became  skilled  in  agriculture,  in  pottery, 
in  house-building,  in  lumbering,  in  machine  construction  and 
repairing,  in  cotton  manufacture,  in  grist  and  plaster  milling,  in 
engineering,  in  agricultural  implements.  Entering  a  new  factory 
as  an  employe,  he  soon  mastered  its  system,  and  made  himself  indis- 
pensable as  a  supervisor  and  in  making  economical  improvements 
in  its  methods.  Into  every  new  field  he  brought  the  strictest  and 
most  effective  business  methods.  The  classical  scholar  might  call 
him  uneducated,  but  he  had  worked  out  for  himself  an  education 
which  men  in  general  might  envy,  and  which,  with  his  extra- 
ordinary capacity,  especially  fitted  him  to  secure  for  himself  a 
great  success  in  his  chosen  field.  Such  was  the  man  who  proved 
th^  mainstay  of  Morse  in  establishing  his  infant  telegraph  enter- 
prise, and  who  covered  those  iniknown  regions  of  his  school  days 
with  the  lightning-bearers  of  language  and  thought. 

When  his  faithful  labors  were  crowned  with  opulence,  not  the 
result  of  watered  stock,  of  cornered  product,  of  stock  exchange 
manipulations,  of  trust  promotion,  but  every  dollar  representing 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  425 

a  sound  business  value,  his  humanity  stirred  within  him  and  found 
vent,  among  other  things,  in  the  gift  of  the  Cornell  Library,  in 
the  collections  of  thoroughbred  stock  for  the  profit  of  local  agri- 
culture, in  his  benefactions  to  those  who  had  rushed  South  to 
fight  the  country's  battles,  and  to  others  who  at  home  were  wag- 
ing a  brave  fight  to  build  up  small  local  industries.  When  sent 
to  the  legislature  he  proved  himself  a  wise  and  worthy  member 
and  senator  and  speedily  gained  the  esteem  and  cooperation  of  his 
colleagues.  His  influence  was  enlisted  in  favor  of  improved  agri- 
culture as  the  solid  basis  of  all  national  prosperity,  and  he  success- 
fully advocated  a  veterinary  sanitary  police  as  the  best  means  of 
protecting  the  increasing  herds  from  destructive  epizootics  which 
would  rob  the  soil  of  its  true  source  of  fertility.  It  was  character- 
istic of  the  sound  judgment  of  the  author,  that  this  bill  provided 
for  an  honorable  indemnity  to  the  owners  for  stock  which  were 
killed  to  stop  the  progress  of  infection.  This  provision,  founded 
in  abstract  justice  and  a  deep  knowledge  of  human  nature,  has 
been  abolished  by  a  succeeding  legislature,  so  that,  although  the 
remainder  of  the  Act  is  administered  at  considerable  expense  to 
the  State,  its  actual  effect  is  now  to  extend  infection  in  place  of 
restricting  it.  Stock  owners  who  detect  or  suspect  infection  in 
their  herds,  now  too  commonly  sell  them  at  market  rates,  thus 
planting  the  disease  in  many  new  centers,  rather  than  accept  the 
alternative  of  an  absolute  loss  of  their  property. 

My  own  relations  to  Mr.  Cornell  were  very  agreeable.  His' 
strong,  confident  bearing,  tempered  by  a  kind,  fatherly  expres- 
sion, drew  respect  and  esteem,  the  interest  manifested  in  our  voy- 
age from  Europe,  our  experiences  and  impressions  of  the  new 
country,  and  our  facilities  for  the  work  to  be  taken  up  in  the  bud- 
ding university,  established  at  once  an  entente  cordiale  which  suf- 
fered no  subsequent  eclipse. 

For  a  man  of  his  native  strength,  and  who  had  achieved  such 
a  remarkable  success,  Mr.  Cornell  maintained  an  extraordinary 
equanimity.  Distrusted,  suspected  of  ulterior  motives  with  pur- 
poses of  self-aggrandizement,  charged  with  irreligion  and  infidelity, 
met  by  attacks  in  the  legislature  and  the  appointment  of  an  in- 
vestigating committee,  he  went  quietly  on,  strong  in  his  conscious- 
ness of  rectitude.     He  could  not  ignore  the  assaults,  but  they  did 


426  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

not  embitter  him  a<^aiiist  his  fellows,  nor  turn  him  from  his  chosen 
course.  They  wrung  from  him  the  remark  that  "  no  one  need  ex- 
pect gratitude  for  what  he  does  for  the  public,"  but  he  went  on 
placidly  serving  the  public  as  before.  In  face  of  every  detraction, 
in  the  darkest  days  of  the  University,  he  set  aside  96  per  cent,  of 
his  income  to  ward  off  threatened  disaster.  His  faith  in  himself 
and  in  the  future  was  phenomenal,  and  to  the  end  he  cherished 
the  hope  that  he  would  live  to  secure  other  large  sums  with  which 
to  build  up  the  University.  To  a  flippant  would-be  socialist  who 
bantered  him  by  saying  he  thought  "he  should  have  just  about 
one-half  of  Mr.  Cornell's  means,"  he  instantly  pricked  the  bubble 
by  the  retort  that  "  it  would  be  great  fun  getting  it  back  again," 

Fortunate  in  the  choice  of  Andrew  D.  White  as  the  president, 
he  could  safely  leave  him  to  care  for  all  academic  questions,  but 
in  financial  matters  he  foresaw  the  great  advantage  of  holding  the 
nation's  gift  of  land  for  a  better  market,  and,  securing  the  right  of 
holding  this,  at  his  own  expense  on  behalf  of  the  University,  he 
very  largely  increased  the  endowment  of  the  institution  in  this 
way.  The  full  value  of  this  was  only  realized  after  he  had  passed 
to  his  reward,  but  the  event  proved  a  splendid  endorsement,  as  had 
the  growing  value  of  his  telegraph  stock  justified  his  hopes  so 
long  before. 

The  career  of  Ezra  Cornell  furnishes  a  splendid  example  to  as- 
piring youth,  and  his  best  monument  is  in  the  institution  which 
bears  his  name,  diffusing  from  its  halls  to  coming  generations  that 
knowledge  which  is  power,  that  skill  which  is  success,  that  art 
which  is  refinement,  and  that  humanity  which  is  godlike.  !May 
this  ever  stand  the  consummation  of  his  ideal,  "  An  institution  in 
which  any  person  can  find  instruction  in  any  study." 


EZRA  CORNELL'S  DEBT  TO  HIS  SON. 

Ezra  Cornell's  debt  to  his  eldest  son,  Governor  Cornell,  in  the 
making  of  his  fortune,  is  expressed  as  follows  in  a  letter  written 
to  Mr.  Otis  Wood,  father  of  Otis  E.  Wood  of  Ithaca  :  "  Next  to 
and  along  with  my  wife,  I  owe  more  to  my  son,  Alonzo  B.,  than 
to  any  other  for  his  cooperation,  advice  and  financial  ability." 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  427 

EZRA  CORNELL  AS  A  CITIZEN  OF  ITHACA, 

BY  HORACE   MACK. 
Assistant  to  the  Treasurer  in  the  Land  Office. 

LOOKING  backward  more  than  a  half  century,  I  recall  the  tall 
figure  of  Ezra  Cornell  as  he  came  occasionally  to  my  father's 
place  of  business.  It  was  at  that  forming  period  of  the 
telegraph  when  the  separate,  independent  lines  were  building, 
whose  consolidation  some  years  later  constituted  the  Western 
Union. 

Other  prominent  Ithacans  took  active  part  in  organizing  and 
constructing  the  minor  lines,  and,  as  regards  the  telegraph,  I 
always  associate  the  names  of  John  James  Speed,  Jr.,  and  William 
P.  Pew  with  that  of  Ezra  Cornell. 

Mr.  Cornell  took  up  the  telegraph  enterprise  only  a  few  years 
subsequent  to  his  term  of  service  with  Jeremiah  S.  Beebe,  for 
whom  he  constructed  the  famous  Tunnel  at  the  head  of  Ithaca 
Fall,  in  1832.  Mr.  Beebe  soon  recognized  Mr.  Cornell's  unusual 
capabilities  and  in  time  entrusted  him  with  the  management  of 
his  extensive  milling  interests.  I  knew  Mr.  Beebe  well.  The  two 
men  were  as  unlike  as  possible,  in  figure  and  temperament.  Mr. 
Beebe  was  short  in  stature,  but  well  rounded  in  face  and  form. 
His  spirits  were  always  bubbling  with  irrepressible  jollity. 

These  characteristics  were  quite  in  contrast  with  the  greater 
stature  and  the  quiet  deliberative  manner  of  Ezra  Cornell. 

When  the  consolidation  of  the  telegraph  lines  had  brought  a 
competence,  and  more,  to  Mr.  Cornell,  our  citizens  were  not  to 
wait  long  for  the  assurance  that  his  struggles  through  many  years 
had  a  higher  purpose  than  mere  selfish  gain. 

His  apparent  desire  was  to  expend  largely  of  his  wealth  and 
remaining  strength  in  the  service  of  Ithaca,  his  chosen  home. 
His  sympathies  were  therefore  readily  enlisted  in  projects  for  the 
development  of  our  natural  resources  and  the  improvement  of 
existing  conditions. 

Investigations,  carried  on  through  several  years,  had  convinced 
some  of  our  citizens  that  a  salt  deposit  underlay  the  Cayuga  basin 
and  that  a  deep  boring  to  test  the  matter  should  be  made. 


428  THE  CORNELL   ERA 

111  1863,  '^  subscription  aiiiountin<(  to  five  thousand  dollars 
was  secured,  Mr.  Cornell's  name  headin^^  the  list  with  $500.0x3. 
I  remember  his  remark  at  the  time,  that,  though  we  failed  in 
efforts  to  get  salt,  he  would  give  that  sum  to  ascertain  how  far 
beneath  us  lay  the  Tally  limestone.  Unfortunately  for  Ithaca, 
through  some  misguided  action  by  the  subscribers,  the  boring, 
though  about  to  begin,  was  postponed  indefinitely  and  our  salt 
industry  thus  delayed  a  quarter  century. 

The  "Draining  of  the  Cayuga  Marshes"  had  been  the  subject 
of  Legislative  action  since  1830,  and  is  a  problem  still  unsolved  ; 
while  the  removal  of  "  Obstructions  at  the  Outlet  of  Cayuga 
Lake"  has  been  a  vital  local  question  since  1858.  To  these 
matters  as  relating  to  the  health  and  prosperity  of  the  place,  Ezra 
Cornell  gave  largely  of  his  time  and  effort. 

It  was  about  this  period,  (£864),  that  Mr.  Cornell  made  an 
exhaustive  investigation  of  the  conditions  existing  at  the  "  Out- 
let"  and  introduced  a  bill  incorporating  the  Cayuga  and  Ontario 
Canal  Co.  His  speech,  before  a  committee  of  the  Senate,  in 
advocacy  of  this  bill,  demonstrated  not  only  the  commercial  im- 
portance of  such  a  canal,  but  also  its  value  in  diverting  the  waters 
that  entered  the  Erie  Canal  "  from  foreign  sources "  and  were 
finally  discharged  into  the  Cayuga  Outlet. 

Although  Mr.  Cornell's  advocacy  of  the  canal  bill  was  masterly 
and  exhaustive,  it  was  defeated,  chiefly  by  the  opposition  of  the 
mill-owners  along  the  Oswego  river  who  knew  the  value  of 
Cayuga  Lake  as  a  storage  reservoir. 

Mr.  Cornell  continued  his  efforts  to  gain  for  Ithaca  some  relief 
from  the  destructive  effects  of  the  frequent  floods.  In  1870, 
during  a  time  of  high  water,  at  his  request  I  made  soundings  over 
the  drowned  area  west  of  the  present  Fair  Grounds,  that  he  could 
more  clearly  shovi^  to  the  Legislature,  then  in  session,  how  greatly 
Ithaca  was  suffering  from  the  abnormal  conditions  at  the  foot  of 
the  Lake. 

While  no  substantial  relief  was  ever  secured  by  these  many 
appeals  to  the  State,  no  citizen  can  withhold  his  veneration  for  the 
memory  of  the  noble  man,  who  while  caring  for  his  great  Uni- 
versity and  aiding  several  local  Railroad  enterprises,  could  find 
time  thus  to  plan  and  plead  for  the  material  interests  of  the  com- 
munit\-  at  large. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA.  429 

EZRA  CORNELL'S  COURTSHIP. 

BY    OTIS    E.    WOOD, 
Brother  of  Mary  Ann   Wood   (Mrs.   Ezra  Cornell.) 

JUST  as  young  Kzra  \va.s  reaching  lii.s  majority,  he  fell  in  with 
the  then  quite  prominent  factory  man,  Oti.s  Eddy,  whom  he 
followed  from  DeRuyter  "Quaker  Basin  "  to  Ithaca  to  build 
his  great  three  story  Cotton  Factory  which  stood  for  nearly  fifty 
years  where  Cascadilla  now  stands. 

Quaker  Basin  had  four  prominent  young  persons  at  this  time — 
Ezra  Cornell,  Ben  Smith,  Welthy  Russell  and  Mary  A.  Wood. 
Ezra  was  a  tall,  lean,  not  homely  young  man,  of  large  mechanical 
ability,  having  built,  at  sixteen,  a  house  on  "  Crum  Hill "'  for  his 
parents.  Ben  Smith  was  a  dapper  young  fellow  of  small  but 
artistic  mechanisms.  Welthy  Russell  was  a  fascinating  young 
Quakeress,  much  the  same  to  Quaker  Basin,  in  her  well-appointed 
home  life,  that  Emily  Rowland  was  to  the  Scipio  "Society  of 
Friends."  Welthy  was  the  "best  girl  "  of  young  Ezra.  Mary  A. 
Wood  was  the  helpful  multum  171  parvo  of  her  mother's  large 
family,  "  spinner  and  weaver"  for  her  large  household.  These 
qualifications  attracted  young  Ezra  as  substantial  additions  to  her 
beautiful  face  and  form. 

About  this  time  Welthy  exhibited  to  Ezra  an  unimportant  but 
beautiful  device  of  a  "frame,"  made  by  Ben  Smith,  with  the 
bantering  remark — "Ezra,  does  thee  think  thee  could  do  as  well 
as  Ben  Smith  has  done  this  ?  "  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  his  larger 
mechanical  aspirations  were  so  shocked  that  he  "side-tracked" 
Welthy  for  Mary  A.,  who  became  his  wife. 

About  1869  Welthy  made  the  almost  annual  pilgrimage  of  the 
DeRuyter  Quakers  to  Scipio.  Having  heard  and  being  proud  of 
Mr.  Cornell  as  a  DeRuyter  boy  they  came  by  way  of  Ithaca  to  see 
how  he  was  progressing  among  the  crude  rail  fences  and  corn-hill 
appointments  of  his  young  University.  During  the  interview 
with  Welthy  the  Founder  ventured  the  remark  :  "  Welthy,  does 
thee  think  Ben  Smith  could  and  would  have  dune  as  well  as  this?" 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE,  LL.D. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  431 

EZRA  CORNELL. 

Extracts  from  an   Address  to  the  Students  of  Cornell  University   on  Ezra  Cornell 
Centennial  Day,  April  twenty-sixth,  J907. 

BY    ANDRP:W    CARNEGIE. 

THE  subject  of  onr  address  sprang  from  a  sturdy  race  of  Puri- 
tans who  had  been  strict  Quakers  for  generations.  The 
union  of  his  parents  was  blest  by  eleven  children,  all  of  whom 
reached  adult  age,  and  were  noted  for  temperance,  industry  and 
frugality, — excellent  citizens.  The  father  lived  to  the  advanced 
age  of  ninety-one.  The  mother  was  a  model  of  all  that  a  noble 
woman  should  be,  and  the  children  had  superb  constitutions. 

Ambition  stirred  within  Ezra  Cornell,  and  at  eighteen  he  set 
forth  to  establish  himself  upon  an  independent  basis.  After  some 
trials  he  finally  heard  of  Ithaca  as  a  promising  point  because  it 
was  connected  with  the  Canal.  There  he  went  and,  as  the  whole 
country  knows,  Ithaca  became  his  home,  and  is  destined  as  such  to 
remain  famous.  Cornell  and  Ithaca  are  inseparable.  With  a  few 
dollars  in  his  pocket  he  walked  from  his  father's  home  to  Ithaca, 
forty  miles  distant — a  second  Dick  Whittiugton,  for  Cornell  also 
became  the  foremost  citizen. 

He  was  an  ardent  Whig  and  plunged  into  the  1840  campaign, 
in  which  he  was  prominent.  Later  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention at  Pittsburg,  which  organized  the  Republican  Party 
(1856).  No  doubt  I  saw  his  tall  figure  among  the  delegates,  for 
even  while  a  telegraph-messenger  boy  I  was  a  keen  free-soiler  and 
ever  on  the  lookout  for  the  celebrated  delegates  who  were  then 
the  gods  of  my  idolatry. 

He  came  into  contact  with  the  men  who  were  nursing  that 
mysterious  infant,  the  telegraph,  much  troubled  to  know  how  the 
stranger  from  a  strange  world  was  to  be  nursed.  It  was  an 
uncanny  visitor,  whose  evident  connection  with  occult  forces 
staggered  those  in  whose  charge  it  lay.  Cornell  was  then  in  his 
thirty-sixth  year,  just  in  his  prime. 

We  must  not  fail  to  note  here  that  but  for  the  mechanical  and 
scientific  genius  of  Cornell,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  Morse  and  his 
party  would  not  have  succeeded,  and  we  should  have  had  to  wait 
until  one  of  Cornell's  stamp  had  been  discovered. 


432  THE  CORNELL   ERA 

Mr.  Cornell,  had  become  tlioroly  convinced  that  the  new  niedinm 
was  specially  adapted  to  the  needs  of  commercial  bnsiness,  and 
hence  that  it  wonld  prove  profitable.  He  plnnged  into  the  work 
with  all  liis  resolute  enthnsiasm  and  all  his  means,  inclnding  what 
he  could  borrow.  Where  others  faltered  he  drove  on,  firm  of 
heart  and  sure  he  had  divined  rightly. 

Short  lines  were  built  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  at  last 
men  entered  upon  the  Telegraph  Age  in  earnest.  Lines  were 
erected  in  every  direction,  subscriptions  being  obtained  in  the 
towns  and  villages  connected  with  them. 

The  chief  burden  fell  upon  Cornell,  as  nothing  approaching 
the  needed  capital  could  be  obtained  in  the  towns  along  his  great 
Western  line.  Here  again  he  displayed  in  the  darkest  hour  that 
sublime  confidence  in  his  own  judgment  that  amounts  to  genius. 
He  persevered,  investing  not  only  all  he  had  made  in  the  Eastern 
lines,  which  he  had  built  upon  profitable  contracts,  for  he  was  a 
great  manager,  but  obligating  himself  deeply  beyond.  In  1848, 
his  enterpri.se  was  completed,  Buffalo  was  connected  with  Cleveland, 
Detroit,  Chicago  and  Milwaukee.  Then  followed  his  line  thru 
the  Southern  counties  of  this  State.  Later  came  connection  with 
Pittsburg.  Well  do  I  remember  that  among  my  first  sights  upon 
arriving  in  Pittsburg  from  Scotland,  just  entering  my  teens,  was 
the  erection  of  telegraph  poles  thru  the  town. 

From  1848  till  1854  there  was  bitter  competition  among  the 
various  small  short  lines.  The  great  West  proved  the  most 
profitable  field.  The  people  of  a  village  there  supported  an  office, 
which  small  towns  in  the  East  failed  to  do.  Bankruptcy  for 
most  seemed  imminent  when  there  was  formed  the  first  "Trust," 
I  think,  in  our  history,  the  Western  Ihiiou  Telegraph  Company, 
which  embraced  most  of  the  smaller  companies  and,  admirably 
managed  as  it  has  been,  now  covers  the  whole  land.  At  its  head 
to-day  stands  General  Clowry,  President,  my  fellow  ex-Telegraph- 
Messenger-Boy,  whom  Cornell  knew  and  often  noticed. 

Cornell  was  the  most  prominent  man  among  the  originators  of 
consolidation.  He  had  watched  over  the  new  invention  of  its 
infancy,  supervised  it  during  its  growing  )outh,  and  conducted  it 
to  maturity  ;  was  the  largest  stockholder  in  the  Western  Union 
and  one  of  the  few  millionaires  then  known.     This  was  before 


THE  CORNELL   ERA.  433 

the  new  species,  the  inulti-inillionaire,  had  made  its  appearance. 
His  fortune,  immense  in  tliose  days,  exceeded  two  million  dollars^ 
all  made  out  of  nothing  but  hard  work,  speculation  having  no 
place  in  it.     Cornell  money  was  clean  money,  the  reward  of  labor. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  this  man  of  unconquerable  faith  in 
the  invention,  never  faltering  for  a  moment,  made  more  out  of  it 
than  all  the  original  owners  of  the  patent  combined  from  their 
interests  in  the  telegraph  companies.  He  invested  all  his  savings 
in  the  one  enterprise — put  all  his  eggs  in  one  basket  and  then 
watched  that  basket.  He  held  on  to  all  his  stocks,  while  they  lacked 
faith  and  were  discouraged  by  the  obstacles  which  only  aroused 
Cornell  and  gave  him  the  giant's  strength. 

Even  when  in  want  of  funds  for  ordinary  expenses  he  would 
not  sell.  Here  our  hero  shines  out  again  as  a  born  leader  of  men, 
one  among  a  million,  who  compels  success,  "snatching  from  the 
nettle  danger  the  flower  safety."  For  all  time  he  ranks  as  the 
"Great  Pioneer  Telegraph  Builder.' 

In  1857,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  finding  himself  owner  of  a  compet- 
ence, he  determined  to  distribute  some  of  his  surplus  for  the  good 
of  his  fellows,  and  rightly  feeling  that  his  beloved  Ithaca  was 
entitled  to  his  first  benefaction,  he  decided  upon  establishing  a 
Free  Public  Library  as  the  best  gift  that  can  be  bestowed  upon  a 
community.  I  shall  not  be  expected  to  disagree  with  our  hero  y" 
upon  tt^at  point.  Such  was  the  opinion  of  my  father,  who  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  first  library  in  my  native  town,  and  I 
rejoiced  when  I  read  that  this  object  appealed  above  all  others  to 
Cornell.  He  had  to  borrow  the  books  he  read  in  his  youth,  and 
only  such  as  have  had  to  do  this  can  fully  realize  the  necessity  for 
and  blessings  of  the  Free  Public  Library.  They  may  be  trusted 
to  place  it  first  of  all  benefactions.  To  Cornell  is  to  be  awarded 
the  credit  of  being  one  of  the  foremost  to  establish  on  this  wide 
continent  a  library  free  to  all  the  people. 

A  proof  of  breadth  of  view,  remarkable  in  his  day,  was  the  ap- 
pointment as  Trustees  of  the  Library,  holding  title  and  managing 
all,  of  some  of  his  strongest  political  opponents,  and  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  different  churches,  Catholic  and  Protestant  alike.  Co- 
lossus-like, he  spanned  the  narrow  gorge  of  prejudice,  political  and 
theological,  and  set  the  best  men  of  Ithaca  of  all  parties  and  all 


434  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

sects  co-operating  for  the  public  good.  Quite  common  this  now, 
and  growing  into  the  general  rule  as  man  develops,  but  in  his  day 
it  needed  the  bold  pioneer  among  the  horde  of  smaller  men  who 
only  follow  a  leader.  Such  men  marvelled  at  Cornell's  display  of 
such  unheard  of  catholicity.  The  idea  of  taxing  the  community 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  library  had  not  then  developed.  Such 
would  no  doubt  have  been  considered  decidedly  socialistic,  for  why 
should  property  of  those  who  had  a  library,  and  did  not  need  one, 
or  who  did  not  want  books,  be  assest  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
did  want  to  read  books?  Much  water  has  run  under  the  bridges 
since  then,  and  I  venture  the  prediction  much  more  is  to  run  in 
the  same  direction.  Cornell,  therefore,  erected  a  partly-rentable 
building  in  which  the  library  was  placed.  The  rents  maintained 
the  library.  To-day  communities  gladly  furnish  sites  and  tax 
themselves  for  maintenance,  so  clearly  is  this  seen  to  be  a  wise  use 
of  public  revenues.  The  world  does  move,  and  moves  rapidly, 
impatient  tho  we  often  are  at  its  seeming  immovability. 

Peter  Cooper  was  the  first  apostle  of  the  "Gospel  of  Wealth" 
in  this  country  and  perhaps  in  any  country,  and  Cornell  one  of  his 
first  disciples.  It  is  a  cult  which,  I  believe,  is  sure  to  grow. 
More  and  more  are  thoughtful  men  to  regard  surplus  wealth  only 
as  a  sacred  trust  to  be  administered  during  their  lives  for  the  good 
of  their  fellows  instead  of  being  hoarded. 

A  few  words  may  not  be  amiss  here  summing  up  what  Cornell 
stands  for. 

First. — It  was  the  first  Eastern  University  to  give  full  liberty 
of  choice  between  studies.  Before  its  day  with  two  or  three  ex- 
ceptions in  the  West,  all  University  students,  without  reference  to 
their  aims,  tastes  or  abilities,  were  required  to  take  mainly  one 
simple,  single,  cast-iron  course.  Cornell  completely  changed  this. 
Large  liberty  of  choice  was  given,  and  the  result  was  magical. 

Second. — Before  Cornell  obtained  its  free  charter,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  State  Universities  of  the  West,  all  in  the  land  were 
sectarian  and  denominational.  Its  charter  provided  that  no  pro- 
fessor or  officer  should  be  chosen  with  reference  to  his  religious  or 
political  views,  and  that  a  majority  of  the  Trustees  should  never 
be  of  any  one  religious  sect.  This  latter  provision  may  some  day 
create  embarrassment,  when  all   Christian   sects   agree   upon    just 


THE  CORNELL  ERA.  435 

what  Christianity  is  and  nnite,  which  seems  sure  to  come  sooner 
or  later.     This,  however,  is  unlikely  to  disturb  our  generation. 

Third. — Another  claim  to  our  regard  is  that  until  Cornell  ap- 
peared there  was  a  great  gulf  fixt  between  the  higher  institutions 
of  learning  and  the  common  school  system.  Instead  of  these  be- 
ing combined  into  one  unbroken,  ascending  path,  they  were  dis- 
connected. Cornell  from  the  very  start  determined  to  remedy 
this  disastrous  break  by  pushing  its  roots  down  into  the  school 
system.  It  establisht  a  free  four-year  scholarship  in  each  Assem- 
bly District  of  the  State  open  to  public  competitive  examination, 
so  that  from  the  beginning  there  has  been  a  body  of  young  men 
and  women  which  numbers  to-day  not  less  than  six  hundred,  the 
vast  majority  coming  from  the  hard-working  poor  but  worthy 
class,  enjoying  free  University  education  in  any  branch  desired, 
and  this  not  as  a  charity,  but  for  proven  merit.  From  infant 
school  to  Cornell  University  and  thru  it,  all  free  as  the  wind,  not 
one  cent  to  pay.  What  other  land  can  boast  of  anything  approach- 
ing this  ?  What  would  not  a  scholar  so  developed  do  for  such  a 
country  ? 

Fourth. —  We  come  now  to  another  feature  of  Cornell's  unique 
organization,  that  of  women  students.  Here  again  it  stood  in  the 
van.  Its  Founder  in  his  scheme  favored  their  admission,  but  it 
was  then  thought  best  not  to  proceed.  In  1872,  however,  a 
young  lady  won  the  scholarship  in  her  district  and  made  her  ap- 
pearance. She  was  cordially  welcomed.  At  the  opening  of  the 
session  both  Founder  and  president  favored  co-education,  and  then 
came  ]\Ir.  Sage  with  his  magnificent  gift  of  the  splendid  Women's 
College  which  bears  his  honored  name.  There  was  much  search- 
ing of  heart  among  the  people  then  about  this  forward  step,  but 
there  is  none  to-day.  A  brilliant  success  highly  creditable  to 
both  sexes,  the  product  of  a  more  manly  man  and  a  more 
womanly  woman. 

Another  Cornell  idea  must  not  be  overlookt.  It  was  first 
among  Universities  to  admit  its  graduates  to  full  and  effective 
participation  in  its  government.  The  Alumni  here,  both  men 
and  women,  have  a  large  representation  in  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
with  excellent  results.  Cornell  is  the  University  of  Triumphant 
Democracv. 


436  THE  CORNELL  ERA. 

Business  men  and  methods  are  sliarply  criticized  in  our  day, 
not  without  reason,  but  we  do  well  to  remember  that  the  man  of 
affairs  is  essential,  and  that  business  ability  ranks  high  in  import- 
ance when  working  for  some  such  purpose  as  Cornell  and  Sage 
were  in  this  instance.  Not  for  self-gain  was  he  inspired,  but  for 
a  noble  public  need.  His  gains  are  still  at  work  here  and  this 
stream  of  benefaction  flows  for  ever.  Universities  more  than 
most  institutions  have  been  favored  by  the  gifts  of  business  men. 
It  dignifies  the  lives  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Cornell,  Stanford,  Hop- 
kins, Clarke,  Brown,  Dartmouth,  Williams  and  others  to  have 
their  wealth  transformed  into  seats  of  learning.  Their  very 
names  arouse  the  enthusiasm  of  thousands  of  our  leading  men 
who  were  students  in  the  past,  and  of  thousands  of  students  of 
to-day,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  yet  to  come  will  cheer  them. 
In  the  memorable  struggle  with  the  Land  Grant  problem,  we 
note  the  rare  foresight  which  distinguished  Cornell,  the  indomita- 
ble will  and  abiding  faith  in  himself  against  all  doubters,  and, 
above  all,  we  feel  the  throbbing  heart  which  prompted  him  to 
greatly  dare  for  the  object  of  his  love,  his  University.  If  any 
student  of  Cornell  in  a  crisis  be  ever  in  want  of  example  to  inspire 
him  to  hold  fast  and  fight  on  to  the  end,  knowing  no  such  word  as 
fail,  he  can  find  no  better  in  the  pages  of  history  than  that  of  the 
Founder  and  the  Land  Grant  campaign,  fought  against  the 
earnest  advice  and  even  remonstrances  of  his  best  friends. 
He  stands  in  history  here,  recalling  Coriolanus'  proud  boast, 
"Alone  I  did  it." 

Ex-President  White  judges  that  the  most  remarkable  of  all  his 
traits  was  his  foresight.  He  was  apparently  the  most  sanguine 
of  men  in  regard  to  the  future  of  his  country.  He  had  faith  in 
her  destiny  which  he  saw  was  to  become  the  mightiest  and  freest 
Empire  the  world  had  ever  dreamed  of,  a  Continent  under  one 
flag.  Hence  his  belief  that  the  telegraph  would  prove  profitable, 
that  his  railroad  projects  would  prosper,  and  that  the  Land  Scrip 
would  become  valuable  as  population  increased.  All  his  ducks 
were  swans.  To  make  this  transformation  is  an  invaluable 
quality  in  any  man.  He  knew  much  better  than  not  to  count 
his  chickens  until  they  were  hatched.  He  counted  his  over  and 
over   long  before   a   hen  cackled,  and   a  few  extras  were  sure  to 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  437 

arrive  in  due  season.  Philosopher  as  he  was,  he  knew  that  even 
if  they  never  were  hatched  at  all  he  had  thus  at  least  enjoyed  the 
pleasure  of  the  count,  which  was  something  to  the  good.  If  we 
do  not  anticipate  many  a  splendid  brood,  we  may  seldom  have  the 
pleasure  of  counting  at  all.  It  is  good  policy  to  secure  the  count. 
Be  king  always,  students,  in  your  dreams.  Have  faith  in  your 
star,  as  Cornell  had.  Rejoice  in  coming  triumphs.  Count  them 
over  often  in  anticipation.  Stand  to  your  guns,  certain  of  victory 
at  the  finish  as  he  was.  You  cannot  find  a  character  more  worthy 
of  imitation  in  every  respect,  unselfish,  courageous,  truthful,  gen- 
erous, and  reverent  man  as  he  was,  and  although  not  quite  ortho- 
dox in  his  day,  ever  mindful  of  the  great  truth  that  "  the  highest 
worship  of  God  is  service  to  man." 

Ezra  Cornell  at  last  saw  Cornell  University  fairly  launched,  his 
ideas  adopted  and  bearing  good  fruit.  The  next  enterprise  that 
attracted  him  was  to  bring  Ithaca  well  into  the  railway  system, 
and  into  this  serious  task  he  launched  with  his  usual  enthusiasm 
and  incurred  heavy  responsibilities,  again  against  the  remon- 
strances of  friends,  who  pleaded  with  him  to  take  the  rest  he 
needed.  His  reply  was  that  he  was  good  for  twenty  years  yet, 
like  his  father,  "  and  would  make  another  million  out  of  the  rail- 
roads needed  for  the  University  endowment."  Never  was  man 
more  completely  absorbed  in  an  undertaking  than  he  in  his  Uni- 
versity. It  was  his  first  care  from  the  day  it  began,  and,  as  we 
see,  his  last  care  to  the  end.  Of  this  we  may  be  well  assured,  no 
University  bearing  the  name  of  man  ever  received  from  its 
founder  a  tithe  of  the  labor  bestowed  upon  this  by  Cornell,  who 
contributed  not  only  his  fortune,  but  consecrated  himself  to  it, 
and  just  as  his  abilities  were  sorely  needed  he  was  prostrated,  on 
June  9th,  1874,  by  an  attack  of  pneumonia,  which  proved  fatal. 
On  December  9th,  he  breathed  his  last,  in  his  sixty-seventh  year. 

lyadies  and  Gentlemen,  Faculty,  Students  and  Alumni  of  Cor- 
nell, let  us  be  grateful  that  there  has  come  to  us  the  knowledge 
of  such  a  man,  and  resolve  that  this  light  shall  not  shine  upon  us 
without  creating  within  our  breasts  the  firm  resolve  to  revere  the 
memory,  emulate  the  virtues,  and  follow  as  closely  as  we  can  the 
example  of  one  who  all  his  mature  life  "  went  about  doing  good  " 
— Ezra  Cornell. 


Ezra  Cornell.  —  From  a  photograph  in  possession  of  Mary  E.  Cornell,  Ithaca. 
The  date  of  this  picture  is  not  known,  but  it  was  probably  about  187 1,  as  the  pict- 
ure in  the  Horn  collection  is  a  duplicate.     (See  Mr.  Cornell's  letter,  page  359.) 

THE  MEMORY  OF  EZRA  CORNELL, 

BY    DEAN    T.    F.    CRANE. 

IT  is  almost  forty-two  years  since  I  first  met  Ezra  Cornell  and  I 
can  still  see  the  tall,  spare  form  and  the  bine  eyes  in  which 
Inrked  shrewdness  and  hnmor.  For  the  three  years  before  the 
opening  of  the  University  I  saw  him  constantly,  and  for  a  time 
acted  as  his  secretary.  He  was  very  kind  to  me,  as  he  was  to  all 
young  men,  and  I  have  tried  to  show  my  gratitude  by  my  devotion 
to  the  enterprise  he  inaugurated. 

As  time  pa.sses,  one  trait  of  his  character  asserts  itself  in  my 
memory — a  trait  which  seems  to  me  almost  divine.  In  his  pur- 
pose to  benefit  mankind  he  was  moved  from  his  course  by  no 
storm  of  obloquy,  nor  was  he  checked  by  ingratitude  or  indiffer- 
ence. Thought  of  self  had  no  place  in  his  mind,  and  his  life  was 
marked  by  an  almost  austere  simplicity. 

The  number  here  who  knew  him  personally  is  fast  growing 
smaller  and  soon  he  will  become  a  memory  like  John  Harvard 
and  Elihu  Yale;  but  the  students  of  Cornell  University  who  owe 
to  him  such  an  inestinuible  debt  of  gratitude  should  hand  down 
to  each  other  a  vivid  portrait  of  the  Founder's  moral  traits  which 
it  needs  no  legend  to  ennoble. 


The  Cornell  Era 


Vol.  XXXIX 


May,  1907 


No.  8 


Terms  :— The  subscription  price  is  ji.oo  per  year,  payable  on  or  before  December  ist.  Single 
copies,  25  cents,  may  be  obtained  at  Andrus  &  Church,  the  Co-operative  Society's  Store  and 
the  Triangle  Book  Shop. 


BOARD  OF  EDITORS. 


William  Winthrop  Taylor,  '07, 

Edito  r-  in  -  Ch  ief. 

George   Perrigo  Conger,  '07 

Managing  Editor. 

Henry  George  Stutz,  '07. 
Eldridge  a.  Spears,  '07. 
Georgk  F.  Rogalsky",  '08. 
Robert  J.  Spencer,  '08. 
I,eroy  R.  Goodrich,  '08. 


William  A.  Kirk,  '07. 

Business  Manager. 

Robert  Robinson  Bergen,  '08, 
Assistant  Business  Manager . 

T.  Glenn  Durkan,  '08. 
F.  W.  Warner.  '08. 
Walter  1,ed\'ard  Todd,  '09 
lyORiNG  K.  Warner,  '09 
William  T.  Burwell,  Jr.,  '08, 
Artistic  Editor. 


Address  matter  for  publication  to  the  Managing  Editor,  and  business  communications  to  the 
Business  Manager. 

Entered  at  the  Post  Office,  Ithaca,  N   Y.,  as  Second  Class  Matter. 
"  Thought  once  awakened  does  not  again  slumber.^' 


The  constructive  work  of  the  Founder  will  last  forever.  Ezra 
Cornell,  in  simply  doing  unto  others  what  others  had  been  unable 
to  do  for  him  in  his  youth,  opened  new  paths  in  education  and 
gave  new  ideas  to  his  countrymen.  His  noble  character  has  been 
an  influence  in  the  lives  of  those  of  the  old  Faculty  who  had  the 
privilege  of  personal  acquaintance.  His  name  will  live  in  the 
memory  of  every  boy  whom  he  has  helped  along  the  road. 

— Former  Professor  James  M.  Crafts. 


ON  BEHALF  OF  THE  MANAGEMENT. 

WITH  this  issue  of  The  Era  the  present  board  lays  down  its 
pen.     To  go  back  a  little,  in  June  of  last  year  The  Era 
made   certain    promises.       Those    promises  we    hope   we 
have  fulfilled  ;  whether  we  have  is  not  for  us  to  venture  state- 


440  THF'.   CORNRLL  ERA 

meiit.  If,  however,  The  Era  following  the  line  of  development 
laid  down  last  year  has  continued  to  evolve,  then  we  are  not 
nnsatisfied.  If  it  has  widened  the  circle  of  its  friends,  interested 
its  readers  to  a  reasonable  extent,  and  secured  for  itself,  more  or 
less  firmlj^,  a  permanent  place  in  Cornell  undergraduate  life,  then 
will  the  effort  expended  not  have  been  without  purpose.  In  any 
event  it  has  been  a  labor  of  love  and  is  its  own  reward.  So  much 
for  the  past, — just  a  word  as  to  what  is  to  come. 

If  The  Era  merits  anything  of  praise  this  year — (and  we  do  not 
venture  opinion) — we  have  no  hesitation  in  predicting  that  it  will 
be  at  least  fifty  per  cent,  better  next  year.  Plans  effecting  this  im- 
provement have  already  been  decided  upon  and  they  will  be  put 
into  operation, — that  is,  of  course,  provided  the  generous  support 
given  this  year  is  increased  in  the  future.  But  that  is  a  practical 
hint  and,  editorially  at  least,  we  don't  like  to  talk  business.  Suf- 
ficient to  say  that  the  new  Board  will  do  the  work. 

And  so  with  the  kindliest  feeling  toward  all,  contributors,  read- 
ers, and  advertisers,  and  university  public  at  large,  the  present 
Board  steps  down  and  out,  glad  indeed  for  the  respite  but  regret- 
ting that  the  work  is  done  ;  severing  connection  in  fact  but  never 
in  spirit  with  Cornell's  oldest  publication. 


The  results  of  the  Prize  Poem  Contest,  announced  in  these  pages 
last  December,  will  be  published  in  the  June   issue   of  The  Era. 

TODD,  BLACKMER  &  CO. 

A  first  class   place  to  find  all  kinds  of  good  Dry  Goods. 
The  establishment  is  of  long  standing  and   most   reliable. 

Opposite   F»ost    Office. 


Electrical  Devices  of  every  kind 

and  Supplies  for  Gas  and  Kle^ric  Lri^liting^. 

Table  Lamps,  Pocket  Lights,  etc. 

Davis=Brown  Electric  Co.,  Inc, 

Licensed  Contractors  and  Electrical  Engineers.  Next  door  to  Lyceum 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  19 


THE  CHAMPAGNE  .<  .h.  20.h  Gntury 
MOET  %.  CHANDON 

WHITE  SEAL 


of  the 


MarvelloDsly  Grand  Vintage 


of  the  year 


1900 


Superior  in  Quality,  Dryness  and  Bouquet 

to  Any  Champagne   Produced  Since 

the  Great  Vintage  of    1884 


20  THE  CORNELL  ERA 

some: 

ITHACA  MADE  SPECIALTIES 

THAT  ARE  WORTHY  OF  ATTENTION  ARE 

White  Hat  Baits  ) .  ^  Q«r^r+orY^^r. 

White  Hat  Trout  Flies  ^^°^  Sportsmen. 

The  Cornell  University  Gasoline 
Broiler-Heater,  for  Poultrymen. 

The  Automatic  Ice  Cream 
Freezer,  for  every  home. 

ALL    MADI-:    RV 

TREMAN,  KING&CO., 

Manufacturers  and  Jobbers  of 

HARDWARE  AND  SPORTING  GOODS, 

Ask  for  Catalogue,  Dept.  G.  Ithaca,  N.  V. 

College  Men  in  DennsncI 

Search  for  1907  men  who  will  be  in  the  niarkef  for  positions  next  summer  or  fall  is  already  ou. 
This  year  we  ran  short  of  college  men  long  befr  re  we  had  filled  all  the  positions  that  came  to  us 
for  them.  Positions  now  open  at  each  of  our  12  offices  for  1906  college  and  technical  school  grad- 
uates who  are  not  yet  permanently  located.     Well  known  firms  offer  salaries  of  |50o-$iooo. 

Write  us  to-day. 

The  National  Organization  of  Brain  Brokers. 
Broadway  and  Duane  Sts..  New  York. 

offices'  iu  twelve  cities. 


write  11^   lu-ud^. 

HAPGOODS, 


L.  E.  G  LA  ESS  EL, 

65  Grand  St.,  New  York  City, 

Exclusive  Boot  Maker 

To  College  W\&r\. 

AT  ITHACA  HOTEL  MONTHLY. 


THE  CORNELL  ERA  21 

MahevH    to    Coruell   1905. 


Caps 


AND 


GOWNS. 


Selected    Material   and  Careful 
Workmanship  at  Lowest  Prices. 

Faculty    Gowns    and    Hoods^ 

Pulpit  and  Judicial  Robes. 

CUSTOM  TAILORS. 

Cap  and  Gown  Contracts  executed 

a7id  satisfaction  guaranteed  to 

Yale  University , 
Brown   University, 

Coltimbia  University 

New  York  University, 
Ohio  State  University, 

University  of  Pennsylvania, 
University  of  Michigan, 
University  of  Minnesota. 

and  a  great  many  Colleges. 

COX  SONS  and   VINING, 


262  Fourth  Avenue, 


NEW  YORK. 


22         ■  THE  CORNEL/.  ERA 

BELL  ENGRAVING  CO. 


ILLUSTRATING 

DESIGNING 

ENGRAVING 


High-class  Halftones  and  Line  Cuts  at  Attractive 
Prices.  Mail  Orders  Receive  Prompt  Attention. 
Class   Books,   Annuals,  Souvenirs,   etc.,    a  Specialty. 


Seixl  for  Free  Copy  of 

"Photo-Engraving  Tips." 


College  Shoes 

TJnequuhd    Varietj/ 
Correct  Stf/le 
So tisfactory  So  vice 
Cost  less  than  imitation. 

Sixth  Avenue  and  19th  St.,  NEW  YORK. 

ALEXANDER. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


23 


WANTED, 

FIVE  HUNDRED  HEN 

To  take  their 

CLEANING 

and 
PRESSING 

To 

A.  G.  HOLLAND 

216  W.  State. 
Coyitracts  a  Specialty. 

PETER  SCUSA 

Does  First  Class 

Shoe    Repairing 

At  412  Eddy  5t. 


BAKER'S 

Chocolate 

Makes  the 
Fudge. 

Send  for  our  new  recipe 
book,  mailed  free,  con- 
taining recipes  for  mak- 
ing Cocoa  Fudge,  Smith 
College  Fudge,  Welles- 
ley  Marshmallow  Fudge, 
Chocolate  Fudge  with  fruit.   Double 
Fudge,  Fudgettes,  and  a  great  number 
of  other  tempting  recipes. 
DO  IT  jsrow t 

47  Highest  Awards  in  Europe  and  America. 

WALTER  BAKER  &  CO.,  Ltd. 

Established  1780.  Dorchester,  Mass. 


Registered, 
C.  S.  Pat.  Oft. 


MEi^Ll^Y'S    PHARMACY 

FOR   YOUR 

Drugs,    Prescriptions,    Sponges,   Tooth   Brushes,    Tooth    Powders,    all    kinds   of 

Toilet  Articles,    Wines  and  Cigars. 

154  E.  State  St. 

"If  you  get  it  from  us  it's  right." 

BUTTRICK  &   FRAWLEY, 

Clothiers  and  Furnishers. 

Largest  Assortment.  Quality  ttie  Best. 

SUITS,  OVERCOATS,  RAIN  COATS,  and  TROWSERS. 

118  East  State  St.,  Ithaca. 


24 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


Spring  and  Summer  Woolens. 

Large  Stock.  Little  Prices. 

The  Corner  Tailor  Shop. 


409  Eddy  Street. 
CLEANING  AND  PRESSING. 


MR.  CORNELL  AND  THE  LABORING  STUDENTS. 

"  The  way  the  boys  take  hold  of  the  spade  and  wheelbarrow 
indicates  the  stuff  that  great  men  are  made  of.  Mr.  Cornell  him- 
self, as  if  taken  with  the  spirit  of  the  thing,  was  seen  a  few  days 
back,  with  a  pick-axe  in  his  own  hands,  giving  to  the  boys  his 
personal  countenance  and  management." 

— Ffoni  the  ItJiaca  Daily  Journal^  November  10^  1S6S. 


The  Gibson 

Mandolin  and  Guitar 

Company. 

Kalamazoo,    tS/lich. 


Sold  by  George  L.  Coleman. 


Reserve  this  spaee  for 


HEREON,  the  COLLEGE  SHOE  MAN. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


25 


Hotel  Iroquois. 

ABSOLUTELY  FIREPROOF. 

EUROPEAN  PLAN. 

Wooley  &  Gerran,  Proprietors.    Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


Also  under  same  luaiiajjeiiient 

Grand  Union  Hotel, 

Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Hotel  Marie=Antoinette, 

Broadway  and  66th  and  67th  Sts. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 


'H 


'""^'.I     ■,r.'.l'l>""vk 


CORNELL  LIVERY. 

Edward  P.   Sayre,  Proprietor. 

First-Class  Livery  and  Coach  Service. 

213  SOUTH  TIOGA  STREET. 
Particular  Attention  paid  to  Wedding  and  Party  Orders. 

Good  Four-in-Hand  Rigs  with  Only  the  Best  of  Drivers. 

Bell  Phone,  55.  Ithaca  Phone,  363. 


University 

Book  Bindery. 


PRACTICAL 

BOOK  BINDING 
IN  ALL  ITS 
BRANCHES 

F.  GEORGE  REED. 

1 1 8- 1 24  South  Tioga  St. 


Try 
Picture  Framing 


AT 


)mit|'s  l^rt  %m 


315  E.  State  St.,  Ithaca. 


26  The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


The  Equitable  Life 
Assurance  Society 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

—PAUL  MORTON,  Piesident— 
OFFERS  TO  THE  PUBLIC  THE 

New  Standard  Life  Insurance  Policy 

Prescribed  by  the 

New  York  State  Law. 

THE    POLICY  has  been  framed  to  insure  to  each  policy- 
holder the  fullest  protection,  and  every  appropriate  benefit. 

It  is  INCONTESTABLE  and  UNRESTRICTED  after  the  first 
year.     Dividends  are  paid  Annuallv. 

Liberal  loan,  and  surrender,  values  are  granted. 

Policy  payable  at  maturity  either    in    cash    or   instal- 
ments, or 

The  money  may  be  left  with  the  Society  at  interest,  or 

The  insurance  may  be  converted  into  an  annuity. 

THE  COMPANY.  The  financial  strength  of  the  Society  ; 
its  promptness  and  liberal  dealing  with  the  public  ;  its 
many  reforms  ;  the  conservatism  and  economy  with  which 
its  affairs  are  administered,  guarantee  to  its  policyholders 
insurance  that  insures — protection  that  protects. 
For  further  particulars  apply  to  the  undersigned. 

W.  A.  KIRK,        or      SNYDER  &  SNYDER, 

119  Eddy  Street,  102  West  State  St. 

Phones:   Bell  551,  Bell  Phone,  148B. 

Ithaca  405X. 

ITHACA,  N.  Y. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser  27 

NORWOOD'S  TAILORING  SHOPS 

IS    THE    PLACE    TO 

Get  Your  Clothes  Pressed  WELL. 

They  guarantee  everything  to  be  first-class. 
Stilts  to  Order,  $20  up.  411  East  Strte  Street. 

To  the  New  Fellows  : 

We  have  the  Shoes  demanded  by  the 
College  Boys  at  the  Right  Price, 

Fall  Oxfords  at  $4.00,  $5.00,  $6.00. 

We  a.sk  to  let  us  show  them  to  you. 

Vorhis  &  Duff.  204  E.  state  St. 

the:  CASH  store: 


^ 


111 


«/ 


NA/here  you  can  Save 
20%  by  Raying  Cash 


28  The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


HMEIN 

l)eKin  purchasing  your  DRUGvS,  MEDICINES  and  TOILET 
ARTICLES,  CIGARS,  TOBACCOS  and  CIGARETTES  of 
us  and  you  will  continue. 

The  Hill  Drug  Store,    HK    320  Huestis  St. 
THE  CORNER  BOOKSTORES. 

Elst.    1S6S. 

Endeavor  to  keep  in  touch  with    t-very    student    requirement.     Our    facilities    for 

handlinj(  and  distribuliiig  are  unsurpassed.     We  receive  daily  direct  from 

the  j)ublishers  all  new  public-ilions  as  issued    and    carry  on    our 

shelves  constantly    all  text  and  reference  Ijooks. 

Drawing    Instruments    and    Supplies   for    Various    Departments. 

Our  prices  compete  with  anyone. 

aTsentiment. 

One  of  the  oldest  officials  in  the  treasurer's  department  tells 
this  story  of  Ezra  Cornell.  Among  the  early  students  was  one 
who  had  developed  a  mania  for  the  autographs  with  or  without 
sentiments,  of  the  great  men  of  the  community.  One  day  he 
rang  the  bell  at  Mr.  Cornell's  house.  The  servant  who  opened 
the  door  informed  him  that  Mr.  Cornell  was  at  dinner. 

"  I  only  wanted  Mr.  Cornell's  autograph  with  a  thought  or 
sentiment,"  said  the  importunate  collector. 

In  a  moment  the  servant  reappeared,  bearing  a  slip  of  paper 
which  she  handed  to  the  delighted  collector.  His  joy,  however, 
was  considerably  lessened  when  he  read  the  sentiment : 

^'- 1  do  not  like  to  be  disturbed  at  my  meals.     Ezra   Cornell. 

—  Cornell  Magazine.,  Febr.^  i^oo. 

R.  C.  Osbom  &  Co. 

Largest  assortment  of  CORNELL 
BANNERS  in  the  city. 

Ask  to  see  the  large  Felt  Flag  for  50  cents. 
Fountain  Pens  a  Specialty. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser. 


29 


WISE, 

The  Printer. 


\ 


YOU  WANT  IT  STUNTY 
YOU  WANT  IT  G  O  O  D 
YOU  WANT  IT  Q  U  I  C  K  i 


TYPfWRll 


*^^^^1?^' 


We 

Can 

Save 

YOU 

Money. 


Get  Wise, 


Corner  Aurora  and  Seneca  Sts. 


If  )OU  are  thinking  of  buying  or 
renting  typewriters. 

WE  SELL  NEW   MACHINES   AT  A  DIS- 
COUNT OF  10  .    AT  LEAST  OFF 
LIST  PRICES. 

Secoiid-Haiid  Macliiiies  of  all 

makes,  prices  from  $10  to  I75.  All  ma- 
chines guaranteed  delivered  in  perfect 
condition. 

LocalAgent,        D.  B.  KIRK, 

119  EDDY  STREET. 


402  Huestis  St. 


D.  M.  BARBER,  at 
The  Monarch  Typewriter  Agency, 

Phones  :   Bell  24  ;-B  ;   Ithaca  402-A. 


First  National  Bank 


CORNELL  LIBRARY  BUILDING 


A  General   Banking   Business  transacted 


YOUR  BUSINESS  SOLICITED. 


Safe   Deposit  Boxes  for  Rent 


30  The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 

Every  Student,  Professor  and  Instructor 

Needs  Insurance 

"We  \%'rite 


We  can  put  your  risk  in  the  Best  Companies  and  at 

a  rate  that  will  please  you. 
Call  and  see  us. 

GEORGIA  &  SOUTHWORTH, 

Insurance,  Real  Estate  and  Loans. 
156  East  State  St.  Both  Phones.  '      Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

ALL  ACCESSORIES  FOR 

L3unohes_or.Ro\A/  B03t3 

Mufflers,  Carbureters,  Mixers,  Spark  Coils,  Spark  Plugs,  etc. 


Marine  Lu^jincs  Irom  1   .   H.l'.  to  40  H.P. 

New  and  second-hand  Launches,  from  i8  ft. to  25  ft.  long,  will  be 
sold  at  a  sacrifice. 

THE    MOTER  &   MFG.  WORKS  CO. 

Foot  of  Buffalo  Street,  Ithaca,  N.  V. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser  31 


An  DRV s  &  Church, 

Booksellers,  Stationers,  Printers 
and  Bookbinders. 

ORDERS  FOR  ENQRAVeD\  CALLING   CARDS  PROMPTLY  FILLED 
WATERMAN  AND  REMEX  FOUNTAIN  PENS. 


Printers  of  the  publications  of  The  Sibley  Journal,  The  Widow, 
The  Cornell  Era,  Transactions  of  the  Association  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers of  Cornell  University,  The  Forestry  Quarterly,  and  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Electrical  and  Mechanical  Engineering  Society 
of  Cornell  University,    arjrarjrararararjrararararar** 


vsov 


^^ 


*ij*-»,. 


\ 


\ 


'o^^L-®^ 


rHOTOGFAFHeRXLflS^fo" 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


33 


CORNELL    STUDENTS 

FIND  THEIR  WORK 

SIMRLIFIED 

BY  USING 


TypeWri-tcr 


The    Standard    Visible    Writer. 


HALP  AN  HOUR 


Of  practice  and  you  can  operate  it  much  faster  than  you 
can  write  with  a  pen — and  your  work  is  much  neater. 


-ASK  US  ABOUT  OUR  SPECIAL  PURCHASE  PLAN. 


BURROWS     &     O'DANIEL, 

Everything  for  the  Typewriter. 

Bell  Phone  604.  205  E.  State. 


34 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


"Ve:  stoodes," 

For  Room  Decorations, 

For  Paints  and  Varnishes, 

For  Paper  of  Any  Kind, 

CONSULT 


U. S.Jolinson,     309  E. State  St, 


PARKER  FOUNTAIN  PENS  A  SPECIALTY. 


HAS  STOOD  THE   TEST,    and  will  continue    to    serve 
board  at  $4.00  per  week,  cash,  to  those  who  like 

Perfect  Service  and  Pure  Food, 


327  Eddy   Street,  near  Campus  Gate. 


Tlw  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


35 


STATLEKS 

UllCOTT 
SdlARE 


Wright,  Kay  &  Co. 


30  c.  iVlEALS 

and  a  la  Carte 


Lower  Dining  Room 


40  c.  MEALS 

and  a  la  Carte 

—  ON- 

First  Floor 


buffuosBesi 

RESTAURANT  i 


SIATS 
500 


[[flhi 


You  owe  it  to  Yourself 

to  phone  us  before  you  give  vour  order  for 

LAUNDRY. 

Just  call  up  the  Sears  Hand  I^auiidry 

on  Bell  Phone  29S  k 


Badges 

Jewelry 

Novelties 

Pennants 

Stationery 

Invitations 

Announcements 

Programs 


Our  1907  Catalogue  of  Frater- 
nity Novelties  is  now  ready  and 
will  be  mailed  upon  application. 
Send  for  our  Sample  Book  of 
Stationery. 

Wright,  Kay  &  Co.,         Detroit,  Mich. 

Manufacturing  Jeweler.s  and  Importers. 
Paris  Office,  24  Rue  des  Petits  Hotels. 


HONEST  GOODS  AT  HONEST  PRICES. 

Standard  High  Grade  Surgical  Instru- 
ments and  Physicians'  Supplies. 

You  can  not  afTord  to  buy  poor  instruments,  nor  can  we  afford  to  sell  poor  ones  ;  we 
would  soon  be  down  and  out. 

You  don't  want  to  be  overcharged  for  good  instruments  either?    Then  deal  with  us. 

Our  prices  are  from  10  ■^  to  40  "t  lower  than  those  of  other  instrument  houses. 

If  you  haven't  our  latest  price  list,  "  OUR  SALESMAN,  No.  4,"  a  postal  will  Ijring  it 
to  you.  Get  it  and  compare  our  prices  with  prices  of  our  competitors.  It  will  pay  you, 
and  we  want  your  business. 

THE  PHYSICIANS'  SUPPLY  CO.  OF  PHILA. 

Room 51  to 54  Estey  Building.  I II 8-1 1 20  Chestuut  St. ,  Philadelphia. 

Mention  this  Journal  when  you  write. 


36  The  Cornell  Eta  Advertiser 


HAVE  YOU  SEEN  THE 

New  No.  12  Hammond  ? 

Besides  having  all  the  advantages  of  the  old  No.  2  Hannnond  such 
as  perfect  and  unchanging  allignment,  back  spacer,  instantaneous 
chaijge  of  type  thus  writing  twenty-seven  languages  in  over  one  hun- 
dred styles  of  type,  an}'  width  paper,  uniform  impression,  etc.,  it  has 
the  new  additional  features  of  polychrome  ribbon  attachment  and 
ab.solute  visibility  and  new  line  feed  with  variable  spacing  mechanism, 
making  it  possible  for  a  change  from  the  regular  spacing  to  the  three, 
four,  five  and  six  letter  spaces,  very  desirable  for  mathematics,  map 
lettering,  etc. 

You  should  have  a  typewriter  in  your  University  work  as  it  means 
marks  ten  per  cent  better,  work  performed  with  greater  ease  and 
rapidity,  and  the  Haillliioncl  is  the  only  machine  for  the  student 
as  it  is  the  only  machine  on  which  3'ou  can  do  all  kinds  of  work.  The 
Haniiiioiici  is  for  sale  by 

FLOYD  M.GRANT/07, 

408-420  Eddy  St. 
i860  46th  year  1906 

HOME  LIFE  INSURANCE  COMPANY 

OF  NEW  YORK. 

Assets,  117,886,594.88  Liabilities,  fi6,  457,194.41 

(Including  Dividend-Endowment  Kund.) 

Dividend  Endowment  Fund  (Deferred  Dividends) 11453,907.00 

Contingent  Fund 225,000.00 

Net    Surphis 1,204,400.47 

Insurance  in  Force       76,775,340.00 

The  Home  Life  supplied  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  present  investigation — an 
insurance  company  without  any  obvious  scandals — -IV.   V.  Tribune,  12-1205. 

Mr.  Hughes'  inquisition  was  not  less  searching  than  before,  but  the  officers  of 
the  Home  Life  insurance  company  apparently  survived  it  unscathed. — N.  Y. 
Herald,  12  12  05. 

Statement  Furiiislied  upon  Request. 


I.  R.  STEIVEINS,  Gen.Agt 
220  E.  STATE  ST.,  ITHACA,  N.  Y. 

Insurance  that  insures.  Agents  Wanted. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


BORN  A  KING! 

Crowned  by  the  instant  approval 
of  critical  users,  the 


TYPEWRITER 

Today  reigns  supreme 
in   the    business   world 


99 


**THE    MONARCH     TOUCH 

Tells  the  reason.     Send  for  it. 

The  Monarch  Typewriter  Company 


General  Offices  and  Faclory.  SYRACUSE.  N.  Y. 


CARVER  &  BARBER,  402  Huestis  St.        PflOOeS :  Bell  IM  B ;  lltiaCQ  402. 


38  The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


T 


O    see  if  this    book  is  worth  ad- 
vertising in,  we  offer  the  following  specials : 


A  Plate  and  100  Cards,  Script  $1.00 

100        "       Solid  Old  English  $2.00 

100        "       Shaded  Old  English  $2.50      [| 

1 00  Sheets  of  Note  Paper  with  Monogram  ) 

-  $2.00 
Plain  Embossed  and  Envelopes                   J 


Invitations,  Programs,  Etc. 

A  Department  for  Brass  Plate  Engraving. 

C.  E.  Brinkworth, 

Engraver  and  Stationer, 
331  Main  Street,  BUFFALO,  N.  Y. 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser. 


39 


A  Camera  to  keep  your  memory 

frP^cK  There  is  nothing  Hke  it.  Pictures  are  truer  than 
*  ^^^  •  your  memory  and  a  great  source  of  pleasure  in 
later  years.  A  very  good  camera  can  be  bought  for  two  dol- 
lars but  there  are  better  ones  at  a  higher  price. 

THE  CO-OP. 


CORRKC  r    CLOrHIIVCi." 

But  experience  teaches  ! 

Experiejice  has  taught  us  that  good 
«pM^w     Clothing  at  medium   prices   pays 
IILIiIaL.     "^  ^"^  yo\x.     If  you  want  the  experi- 
ence of  finding  a  suit  you  can  get  into 
and  feel  right — come  right  here. 
Sole  Agents  for 


IS  A 
ARD 
CHER 


Fine  Clothing. 

Full  Dress  and  Tuxedo  Suits  for  Sale  or  Rent. 

Suits  and  Overcoats  Made  to  Order.     Monarch  Shirts,  $i.oo.   Cluett 
Shirts,  $1.50.     Adler  and  Fownes  Gloves.   Stetson  and   Howes  Hats. 

BAXTER  &  SHEPARD, 

One  Price,  126  E.  State  St. 


^\)c  triangle  Book  Sljop 


SHELDON  COURT. 


Everything  for  the  College    man,    and    everything    right 

including  price. 


40 


The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


VARTRAY  GINGER  ALE. 


Pure — sparkling — refreshing — rich  with  natural  ])i(iuancy  and 
the  flavor  of  fruits  and  flowers. 

Vartray  Ginger  Ale  is  the  College  Man's  drink  after  study 
and  after  exercise  on  the  athletic  field. 

You  can  buy  a  dozen  bottles  of  Vartray  Ginger  Ale  packed  in 
a  bucket.  Remove  the  wrappers  from  the  bottles,  fill  the 
space  with  ice  and  the  bucket  becomes  a  refrigerator.  Just  the 
thing  for  little  card  or  jollification  parties.  Mighty  handy  to 
have  around  all  the  time. 


Vartray  Cobbler. 

Here  is  a  delicious 
drink  to  be  decorated 
with  seasonable  berries 
and  served  with  straws  : 
Into  a  large  glass  put 
one  teaspoonful  pow- 
dered sugar,  one  piece 
of  orange  and  lemon 
peel,  one-third  glass 
shaved  ice,  and  fill  up 
with  Vartray  Ginger 
Ale. 


Send  for  the  \'artray 
Book  of  Recipes  a  n  d 
Toasts. 


VllRIRllY  MIER  COMPANY. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


'    The  Cornell  Era  Advertiser 


41 


A   College  Book  of  all  the  College  Athletic 
Records  and  clothes  styles  sent  free  on  request. 


College  Brand  Clothes 

are  made  especially  to  please  college  men.  They  are  the  only  ready-forwear 
garments  that  are  cut  extreme  in  every  way.  Not  a  bit  like  any  other  make 
in  America.  They're  merchant  tailored  with  all  the  annoyances  and  bothers 
and  hang-ups  and  delays  of  the  custom-shops  eliminated— with  the  merchant 
tailoring  profit  extracted,  and  all  the  things  that  are  worth-while  left  in. 
Sold  in  the  best  stores  in  every  cityfi  om  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

Made  in   New   York  City  by  E.  L.  Blimline  &  Co., 

154-158  West  18  th  Street. 


The  First  Bridge  over  Cascadilla  Gorge,  at  the  entrance  to  the  campus. 
It  was  a  wooden  structure,  crossing  at  the  same  point  as  the  present  bridge,  but 
much  nearer  the  stream. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DmG  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL   BE   ASSESSED    FOR    FAILURE   TO    RETURN 
THIS    BOOK    ON    THE    DATE    DUE.    THE    PENALTY             ' 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON   THE  FOURTH 
DAY     AND     TO     $l.OO    ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY            i 

OVERDUE.                                                                                                    1 

1 

OCT  20    Ib^. 

fxper     Ol       \iiAA 

\)\}\     ajl     •»*••* 

OCT   23  1944 

LD  21-100w-12,'43  (87968)      i 

/ 

YD  1^25^ 


M  GG14     lDl^e4- 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


Sole  Dietrilniters  of 

IRuppcnbeimcr  (5oot>  Clothes 

Blackvvell  Bro6. 

flDen'ri  Shop 
IH  lEast  State  Street  Opposite  post  ©ffice 


Press  oi-  Anruus  &  Church,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 


